Top 120 Hesiod Quotes (2024 Update)

1. “If you add a little to a little and do this often, soon the little will become great.”

— Hesiod

2. “Timeliness is best in all matters.”

— Hesiod

3. “Before the gates of excellence the high gods have placed sweat; long is the road thereto and rough and steep at first; but when the heights are reached, then there is ease, though grievously hard in the winning.”

— Hesiod

4. “It is best to do things systematically, since we are only human, and disorder is our worst enemy.”

— Hesiod

5. “A bad neighbor is a misfortune, as much as a good one is a great blessing.”

— Hesiod

6. “I see no hope for the future of our people if they are dependent on the frivolous youth of today, for certainly all youth are reckless beyond words. When I was a boy, we were taught to be discrete and respectful of elders, but the present youth are exceedingly wise and impatient of restraint.”

— Hesiod

7. “For a man wins nothing better than a good wife, and then again nothing deadlier than a bad one.”

— Hesiod

8. “In front of excellence, the immortal gods have put sweat, and long and steep is the way to it.”

— Hesiod

9. “It will not always be summer: build barns.”

— Hesiod

10. “A sparing tongue is the greatest treasure among men.”

— Hesiod

11. “Bacteria: The only culture some people have.”

— Hesiod

12. “Never make a companion equal to a brother.”

— Hesiod

13. “The best man of all is he who knows everything himself. Good also the man who accepts another’s sound advice; but the man who neither knows himself nor takes to hear what another says, he is no good at all.”

— Hesiod

14. “Gossip and rumor are evil; easy to lift up, heavy to carry, and hard to put down again.”

— Hesiod

15. “Work is not a shame. Laziness is a shame.”

— Hesiod

16. “Even though it’s hard, it’s easy.”

— Hesiod

17. “Do not put your work off till to-morrow and the day after; for a sluggish worker does not fill his barn, nor one who puts off his work: industry makes work go well, but a man who puts off work is always at hand-grips with ruin.”

— Hesiod

18. “You trust a thief when you trust a woman.”

— Hesiod

19. “Do not let any sweet-talking woman beguile your good sense with the fascinations of her shape. It’s your barn she’s after.”

— Hesiod

20. “But he who neither thinks for himself nor learns from others, is a failure as a man.”

— Hesiod

21. “Keep adding little by little and it will become a big heap.”

— Hesiod

22. “Love those who love you, help those you help you, and give to those who give to you.”

— Hesiod

23. “Observe due measure, for right timing is in all things the most important factor.”

— Hesiod

24. “Justice prevails over transgression when she comes to the end of the race.”

— Hesiod

25. “Happy is the man whom the Muses love: sweet speech flows from his mouth.”

— Hesiod

26. “That man is best who sees the truth himself. Good too is he who listens to wise counsel. But who is neither wise himself nor willing to ponder wisdom is not worth a straw.”

— Hesiod

27. “He harms himself who does harm to another, and the evil plan is most harmful to the planner.”

— Hesiod

28. “Preserve the mean; the opportune moment is best in all things.”

— Hesiod

29. “Actions from youth, advice from the middle-aged, prayers from the aged.”

— Hesiod

30. “A day is sometimes our mother, sometimes our stepmother.”

— Hesiod

31. “The dawn speeds a man on his journey, and speeds him too in his work.”

— Hesiod

32. “Only fools need suffer to learn.”

— Hesiod

33. “The man who is rich in fancy thinks that his wagon is already built; poor fool, he does not know that there are a hundred timbers to a wagon.”

— Hesiod

34. “Try to take for a mate a person of your own neighborhood.”

— Hesiod

35. “He is a fool who tries to match his strength with the stronger.”

— Hesiod

36. “In work there is no shame; shame is in the idleness.”

— Hesiod

37. “The half is greater than the whole.”

— Hesiod

38. “Do not let a flattering woman coax and wheedle you and deceive you; she is after your barn.”

— Hesiod

39. “Work is no disgrace: it is idleness which is a disgrace.”

— Hesiod

40. “Far best is he who is himself all-wise, and he, too, good who listens to wise words; But whoso is not wise or lays to hear another’s wisdom is a useless man.”

— Hesiod

41. “Admire a small ship, but put your freight in a large one; for the larger the load, the greater will be the profit upon profit.”

— Hesiod

42. “Inhibition is no good provider for a needy man, Inhibition, which does men great harm and great good. Inhibition attaches to poverty, boldness to wealth.”

— Hesiod

43. “In the morning of like, work; in the midday, give counsel; in the evening, pray.”

— Hesiod

44. “Invite your friend to a feast, but leave your enemy alone; and especially invite the one who lives near you.”

— Hesiod

45. “Diligence increaseth the fruit of toil. A dilatory man wrestles with losses.”

— Hesiod

46. “He’s only harming himself who’s bent upon harming another.”

— Hesiod

47. “In the race for wealth, a neighbor tries to outdo his neighbor, but this strife is good for men. For the potter envies potter, and the carpenter the carpenter, and the beggar rivals the beggar, and the singer the singer.”

— Hesiod

48. “No gossip ever dies away entirely, if many people voice it: it, too, is a kind of divinity.”

— Hesiod

49. “If you speak evil, you will soon be worse spoken of.”

— Hesiod

50. “Long exercise, my friend, inures the mind; And what we once disliked we pleasing find.”

— Hesiod