Top 280 Aeschylus Quotes (2026 Update)
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101. “I, schooled in misery, know many purifying rites, and I know where speech is proper and where silence.”

— Aeschylus

102. “Do not kick against the pricks.”

— Aeschylus

103. “Of all the gods, Death only craves not gifts: Nor sacrifice, nor yet drink-offering poured Avails; no altars hath he, nor is soothed By hymns of praise. From him alone of all The powers of heaven Persuasion holds aloof.”

— Aeschylus

104. “Ares gives his verdict without witnesses.”

— Aeschylus

105. “Alas, poor men, their destiny. When all goes well a shadow will overthrow it. If it be unkind one stroke of a wet sponge wipes all the picture out.”

— Aeschylus

106. “Be bold and boast, just like the cock beside the hen.”

— Aeschylus

107. “Justice shines in very smoky homes, and honors the righteous; but the gold-spangled mansions where the hands are unclean she leaves with eyes averted.”

— Aeschylus

108. “Obstinacy standing alone is the weakest of all things in one whose mind is not possessed by wisdom.”

— Aeschylus

109. “Yet though a man gets many wounds in breast, He dieth not, unless the appointed time, The limit of his life’s span, coincide; Nor does the man who by the hearth at home Sits still, escape the doom that Fate decrees.”

— Aeschylus

110. “From a just fraud God turneth not away.”

— Aeschylus

111. “A tyrant’s trust dishonors those who earn it.”

— Aeschylus

112. “For Hades is mighty in calling men to account below the earth, and with a mind that records in tablets he surveys all things.”

— Aeschylus

113. “Every ruler is harsh whose laws is new.”

— Aeschylus

114. “Beyond age, leaf withered, man goes three footed no stronger than a child is, a dream that falters in daylight.”

— Aeschylus

115. “You shall learn, though late, the lesson of how to be discreet.”

— Aeschylus

116. “The one knowing what is profitable, and not the man knowing many things, is wise.”

— Aeschylus

117. “May dawn, as the proverb goes, bring happy tidings coming from her mother night.”

— Aeschylus

118. “Respect the altar of Justice and do not, looking to profit, dishonor it by spurning with godless foot; for punishment will come upon you.”

— Aeschylus

119. “In every enterprise is no greater evil than bad companionship.”

— Aeschylus

120. “Hear the sum of the whole matter in the compass of one brief word – every art possessed by man comes from Prometheus.”

— Aeschylus

121. “Wiles and deceit are female qualities.”

— Aeschylus

122. “I will speak in defense of reason: for the very child of vanity is violence.”

— Aeschylus

123. “For the mighty, even to give away is grace.”

— Aeschylus

124. “Sweet is a grief well ended.”

— Aeschylus

125. “On him who wields power gently, the god looks favorably from afar.”

— Aeschylus

126. “Delay not to seize the hour!”

— Aeschylus

127. “The power that holds the sky’s majesty wins our worship.”

— Aeschylus

128. “It is an easy thing for one whose foot is on the outside of calamity to give advice and to rebuke the sufferer.”

— Aeschylus

129. “Nought is there in wealth That serves as bulwark ’gainst the subtle stealth Of Destiny and Doom.”

— Aeschylus

130. “We should know what is true before we break our rage.”

— Aeschylus

131. “Remember to be submissive, thou art analien, a fugitive, and in need.”

— Aeschylus

132. “It is best for the wise man not to seem wise.”

— Aeschylus

133. “For the poison of hatred seated near the heart doubles the burden for the one who suffers the disease; he is burdened with his own sorrow, and groans on seeing another’s happiness.”

— Aeschylus

134. “We shall perish by guile just as we slew.”

— Aeschylus

135. “Old age hath stronger sense of right than youth.”

— Aeschylus

136. “Time in its aging course teaches all things.”

— Aeschylus

137. “By the sword you did your work, and by the sword you die.”

— Aeschylus

138. “Destiny waits alike for the free man as well as for him enslaved by another’s might.”

— Aeschylus

139. “Base men who prosper are unenviable.”

— Aeschylus

140. “You’ll see all other mortal sinners, the ones who flout the honor owed to gods or guests, or loving parents – you’ll see them get the justice they deserve. For Hades holds men mightily to a strict accounting down below the earth; he sees all things, inscribes them within the book of his remembering.”

— Aeschylus

141. “Justice, voiceless, unseen, seeth thee when thou sleepest and when thou goest forth and when thou liest down. Continually doth she attend thee, now aslant thy course, now at a later time. These lines are from a section of doubtful or spurious fragments.”

— Aeschylus

142. “Be it mine to draw from wisdom’s fount, pure as it flows, that calm of soul which virtue only knows.”

— Aeschylus

143. “But I must bear my destiny as best I can, knowing well that there is no resisting the strength of necessity.”

— Aeschylus

144. “It is a light thing for whoever keeps his foot outside trouble to advise and counsel him that suffers.”

— Aeschylus

145. “The sleeping brain has eyes that give us light; we can never see our destiny by day.”

— Aeschylus

146. “For a deadly blow let him pay with a deadly blow: it is for him who has done a deed to suffer.”

— Aeschylus

147. “Know not to revere human things too much.”

— Aeschylus

148. “I beg you, alight and join your sorrow with mine: misfortune wanders everywhere, and settles now upon one and now upon another.”

— Aeschylus

149. “Wisdom cometh by suffering.”

— Aeschylus

150. “Only when man’s life comes to its end in prosperity can one call that man fortunate.”

— Aeschylus