136 Euripides Quotes

Euripides offers plain-spoken wisdom about justice, aging and belief.

The company of just and righteous men is better than wealth and a rich estate.
#1
Time will explain it all. He is a talker, and needs no questioning before he speaks.
#2
Waste not fresh tears over old griefs.
#3
Sweet is the remembrance of troubles when you are in safety.
#4
Cleverness is not wisdom. And not to think mortal thoughts is to see few days.
#5
Talk sense to a fool and he calls you foolish.
#6
Slow but sure moves the might of the gods.
#7
Humility, a sense of reverence before the sons of heaven - of all the prizes that a mortal man might win, these, I say, are wisest; these are best.
#8
Events will take their course, it is no good of being angry at them; he is happiest who wisely turns them to the best account.
#9
I sacrifice to no god save myself - And to my belly, greatest of deities.
#10
I care for riches, to make gifts To friends, or lead a sick man back to health With ease and plenty. Else small aid is wealth For daily gladness; once a man be done With hunger, rich and poor are all as one.
#11
God helps him who strives hard.
#12
Nothing has more strength than dire necessity.
#13
In case of dissension, never dare to judge till you've heard the other side.
#14
Leave no stone unturned.
#15
I hold that mortal foolish who strives against the stress of necessity.
#16
O lady, nobility is thine, and thy form is the reflection of thy nature!
#17
Authority is never without hate.
#18
A coward turns away, but a brave man's choice is danger.
#19
There is in the worst of fortune the best of chances for a happy change.
#20
The fountains of sacred rivers flow upwards.
#21
It is said that gifts persuade even the gods.
#22
A bad beginning makes a bad ending.
#23
Cowards do not count in battle; they are there, but not in it.
#24
Every man is like the company he wont to keep.
#25
This is slavery, not to speak one's thought.
#26
Chance fights ever on the side of the prudent.
#27
Where two discourse, if the one's anger rise, The man who lets the contest fall is wise.
#28
Slight not what 's near through aiming at what's far.
#29
I think, Some shrewd man first, a man in judgment wise, Found for mortals the fear of gods, Thereby to frighten the wicked should they Even act or speak or scheme in secret.
#30
The sweetest teaching did he introduce, Concealing truth under untrue speech. The place he spoke of as the gods' abode Was that by which he might awe humans most, - The place from which, he knew, terrors came to mortals And things advantageous in their wearisome life - The revolving heaven above, in which dwell The lightnings, and awesome claps Of thunder, and the starry face of heaven, Beautiful and intricate by that wise craftsman Time, - From which, too, the meteor's glowing mass speeds And wet thunderstorm pours forth upon the earth.
#31
I begin by taking. I shall find scholars later to demonstrate my perfect right.
#32
There is nothing more hostile to a city that a tyrant, under whom in the first and chiefest place, there are not laws in common, but one man, keeping the law himself to himself, has the sway, and this is no longer equal.
#33
When good men die their goodness does not perish, But lives though they are gone. As for the bad, All that was theirs dies and is buried with them.
#34
Never say that marriage has more of joy than pain.
#35
A second wife is hateful to the children of the first; A viper is not more hateful.
#36
Oh, if I had Orpheus' voice and poetry with which to move the Dark Maid and her Lord, I'd call you back, dear love, from the world below. I'd go down there for you. Charon or the grim King's dog could not prevent me then from carrying you up into the fields of light.
#37
Light be the earth upon you, lightly rest.
#38
Old men's prayers for death are lying prayers, in which they abuse old age and long extent of life. But when death draws near, not one is willing to die, and age no longer is a burden to them.
#39
Dishonour will not trouble me, once I am dead.
#40
Today's today. Tomorrow we may be ourselves gone down the drain of Eternity.
#41
I have found power in the mysteries of thought, exaltation in the changing of the Muses; I have been versed in the reasonings of men; but Fate is stronger than anything I have known.
#42
Time cancels young pain.
#43
There is one thing alone that stands the brunt of life throughout its course: a quiet conscience.
#44
Try first thyself, and after call in God; For to the worker God himself lend aid.
#45
In this world second thoughts, it seems, are best.
#46
'Twas but my tongue, 'twas not my soul that swore.
#47
Along with success comes a reputation for wisdom.
#48
When one with honeyed words but evil mind Persuades the mob, great woes befall the state.
#49
Love is all we have, the only way that each can help the other.
#50
The man who melts with social sympathy, though not allied, is more worth than a thousand kinsmen.
#51
The variety of all things forms a pleasure.
#52
Danger gleams like sunshine to a brave man's eyes.
#53
Do not consider painful what is good for you.
#54
Do not plan for ventures before finishing what's at hand.
#55
Down on your knees, and thank heaven, fasting, for a good man's love.
#56
Forgive, son; men are men; they needs must err.
#57
Friends show their love in times of trouble.
#58
Happiness is brief. It will not stay. God batters at its sails.
#59
He is not a lover who does not love forever.
#60
He is wise that is wise to himself.
#61
Human misery must somewhere have a stop; there is no wind that always blows a storm.
#62
I hate it in friends when they come too late to help.
#63
I love the old way best, the simple way of poison, where we too are strong as men.
#64
I would prefer as friend a good man ignorant than one more clever who is evil too.
#65
If the gods do evil then they are not gods.
#66
Ignorance of one's misfortunes is clear gain.
#67
Impudence is the worst of all human diseases.
#68
In misfortune, which friend remains a friend?
#69
It destroys one's nerves to be amiable every day to the same human being.
#70
Attribution disputed; shown as originally published.
It is a good thing to be rich and a good thing to be strong, but it is a better thing to be loved by many friends.
#71
It's not beauty but fine qualities, my girl, that keep a husband.
#72
Joint undertakings stand a better chance when they benefit both sides.
#73
Judge a tree from its fruit, not from its leaves.
#74
Know first who you are; and then adorn yourself accordingly.
#75
Attribution disputed; shown as originally published.
Life has no blessing like a prudent friend.
#76
Love must not touch the marrow of the soul. Our affections must be breakable chains that we can cast them off or tighten them.
#77
Luckier than one's neighbour, but still not happy.
#78
Man's best possession is a sympathetic wife.
#79
Man's most valuable trait is a judicious sense of what not to believe.
#80
Money is far more persuasive than logical arguments.
#81
Much effort, much prosperity.
#82
Never that which is shall die.
#83
New faces have more authority than accustomed ones.
#84
No one can confidently say that he will still be living tomorrow.
#85
No one is happy all his life long.
#86
No one is truly free, they are a slave to wealth, fortune, the law, or other people restraining them from acting according to their will.
#87
No one who lives in error is free.
#88
Often a noble face hides filthy ways.
#89
One does nothing who tries to console a despondent person with word. A friend is one who aids with deeds at a critical time when deeds are called for.
#90
One loyal friend is worth ten thousand relatives.
#91
Only a madman would give good for evil.
#92
Punishment is not for revenge, but to lessen crime and reform the criminal.
#93
Attribution disputed; shown as originally published.
Question everything. Learn something. Answer nothing.
#94
Real friendship is shown in times of trouble; prosperity is full of friends.
#95
Short is the joy that guilty pleasure brings.
#96
Silence is true wisdom's best reply.
#97
Silver and gold are not the only coin; virtue too passes current all over the world.
#98
Slight not what's near, when aiming at what's far.
#99
Song brings of itself a cheerfulness that wakes the heart of joy.
#100
Ten soldiers wisely led will beat a hundred without a head.
#101
The best and safest thing is to keep a balance in your life, acknowledge the great powers around us and in us. If you can do that, and live that way, you are really a wise man.
#102
The best of seers is he who guesses well.
#103
The best prophet is common sense, our native wit.
#104
The bold are helpless without cleverness.
#105
The day is for honest men, the night for thieves.
#106
The gods visit the sins of the fathers upon the children.
#107
The good and the wise lead quiet lives.
#108
The greatest pleasure of life is love.
#109
The language of truth is simple.
#110
The lucky person passes for a genius.
#111
The wavering mind is but a base possession.
#112
The wisest men follow their own direction.
#113
There is just one life for each of us: our own.
#114
There is no benefit in the gifts of a bad man.
#115
There is the sky, which is all men's together.
#116
This is courage in a man: to bear unflinchingly what heaven sends.
#117
To a father waxing old, nothing is dearer than a daughter.
#118
To generous souls, every task is noble.
#119
To persevere, trusting in what hopes he has, is courage in a man.
#120
Unhappiness remembering happiness.
#121
Vengeance comes not slowly either upon you or any other wicked man, but steals silently and imperceptibly, placing its foot on the bad.
#122
We know the good, we apprehend it clearly, but we can't bring it to achievement.
#123
Wealth stays with us a little moment if at all: only our characters are steadfast, not our gold.
#124
What anger worse or slower to abate then lovers love when it turns to hate.
#125
What greater grief than the loss of one's native land.
#126
When a man's stomach is full it makes no difference whether he is rich or poor.
#127
Whoso neglects learning in his youth, loses the past and is dead for the future.
#128
Woman is woman's natural ally.
#129
You were a stranger to sorrow: therefore Fate has cursed you.
#130
Your very silence shows you agree.
#131
Youth is the best time to be rich, and the best time to be poor.
#132
Zeus hates busybodies and those who do too much.
#133
Account no man happy till he dies.
#134
Circumstances rule men and not men circumstances.
#135
Those whom the gods wish to destroy they first make mad.
#136

Euripides quotes