Top 280 Aeschylus Quotes (2026 Update)
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201. “The adulterer dies. An old custom, justice.”

— Aeschylus

202. “Number, the most excellent of all inventions.”

— Aeschylus

203. “Time waxing old can many a lesson teach.”

— Aeschylus

204. “You have used me strangely.”

— Aeschylus

205. “Do not labor uselessly at what helps not at all.”

— Aeschylus

206. “In few men is it part of nature to respect a friend’s prosperity without begrudging him.”

— Aeschylus

207. “To many mortals silence great gain brings.”

— Aeschylus

208. “But from the good health of the mind comes that which is dear to all and the object of prayer-happiness.”

— Aeschylus

209. “There is a limit to the best of health, disease is always a near neighbor.”

— Aeschylus

210. “A curse burns bright on crime.”

— Aeschylus

211. “Who holds a power but newly gained is ever stern of mood.”

— Aeschylus

212. “For the marriage bed ordained by fate for men and women is stronger than an oath and guarded by Justice.”

— Aeschylus

213. “Out of respect, a man must veil his words when talking with a woman, but with a man he can frankly say whatever’s on his mind.”

— Aeschylus

214. “The moving light, rejoicing in its strength, Sped from the pyre of pine, and urged its way, In golden glory, like some strange new sun...”

— Aeschylus

215. “For this our task hath Fate spun without fail to last for ever sure, that we on man weighed down with deeds of hate should follow till the earth his life immure. Nor when he dies can he boast of being truly free.”

— Aeschylus

216. “Give me an answer which is plain to understand.”

— Aeschylus

217. “For hostile word let hostile word be paid.”

— Aeschylus

218. “For wherein is life sweet to him who suffers grief?”

— Aeschylus

219. “When a tongue fails to send forth appropriate shafts, there might be a word to act as healer of these.”

— Aeschylus

220. “Only one accomplishment is beyond both the power and the mercy of the Gods. They cannot make the past as though it had never been.”

— Aeschylus

221. “Truly even he errs that is wiser than the wise.”

— Aeschylus

222. “Even the old should learn.”

— Aeschylus

223. “Death is softer by far than tyranny.”

— Aeschylus

224. “Cry Sorrow, sorrow – yet let good prevail.”

— Aeschylus

225. “You are young and young your rule and you think that the tower in which you live is free from sorrow: from it have I not seen two tyrants thrown? The third, who now is king, I shall yet live to see him fall, of all three most suddenly, most dishonored.”

— Aeschylus

226. “Still to the sufferer comes, as due from God, a glory that to suffering owes its birth.”

— Aeschylus

227. “Truly upon mortals cometh swift of foot their evil and his offence upon him that trespasseth against Right.”

— Aeschylus

228. “Unjustly men hate death, which is the greatest defence against their many ills.”

— Aeschylus

229. “Know yourself and fit yourself to new fashions. For there is a new ruler among the gods.”

— Aeschylus

230. “For sufferers it is sweet to know before-hand clearly the pain that still remains for them.”

— Aeschylus

231. “Against necessity, against its strength, no one can fight and win.”

— Aeschylus

232. “The misfortunes of mankind are of varied plumage.”

— Aeschylus

233. “The seed of mortals broods o’er passing things, and hath nought surer than the smoke-cloud’s shadow.”

— Aeschylus

234. “No bribes. Nothing that passes under the roof of a temple Or under the roof of the mouth, can appease heaven’s anger Or deflect its aim.”

— Aeschylus

235. “Let me attain no envied wealth, let me not plunder cities, neither be taken in turn, and face life in the power of another.”

— Aeschylus

236. “For mortal kind taketh thought only for the day, and hath no more surety than the shadow of smoke.”

— Aeschylus

237. “Everyone, to those weaker than themselves, is kind.”

— Aeschylus

238. “Yet again, isn’t there something terrible in randomness – the idea that at the very bottom of its calculations, real depravity has no master plan of any kind, it’s just a dreamy whim that slides out of people when they are trapped or bored or too lazy to analyze their own mania.”

— Aeschylus

239. “I have not need to promise what I cannot do.”

— Aeschylus

240. “What good is it to live a life that brings pains?”

— Aeschylus

241. “Pain lays not its touch upon a corpse.”

— Aeschylus

242. “My heart’s a dance of fear.”

— Aeschylus

243. “Overly persuasive a woman’s ordinance spreads far, traveling fast; but fast dying a rumor voiced by a woman perishes.”

— Aeschylus

244. “God’s mouth knows not how to speak falsehood, but he brings to pass every word.”

— Aeschylus

245. “Oaths are not the credit of men but men of oaths.”

— Aeschylus

246. “Making it a valid law to learn by suffering.”

— Aeschylus

247. “Sophokles is a playwright fascinated in general by people who say no, people who resist compromise, people who make stumbling blocks of themselves, like Antigone or Ajax.”

— Aeschylus

248. “Report uttered by the people is everywhere of great power.”

— Aeschylus

249. “But concern not thou thyself vainly with matters that are of no advantage.”

— Aeschylus

250. “The best by far is to marry in one’s own rank.”

— Aeschylus