Top 120 Hesiod Quotes (2025 Update)
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51. “Long exercise, my friend, inures the mind; And what we once disliked we pleasing find.”

— Hesiod

52. “Bring a wife home to your house when you are of the right age, not far short of 30 years, nor much above this is the right time for marriage.”

— Hesiod

53. “Potter is piqued with potter, joiner with joiner, beggar begrudges beggar, and singer singer.”

— Hesiod

54. “It is a hard thing for a man to be righteous, if the unrighteous man is to have the greater right.”

— Hesiod

55. “Whoever has trusted a woman has trusted deceivers.”

— Hesiod

56. “Whoever happens to give birth to mischievous children lives always with unending grief in his spirit and heart.”

— Hesiod

57. “Do not seek evil gains; evil gains are the equivalent of disaster.”

— Hesiod

58. “For both faith and want of faith have destroyed men alike.”

— Hesiod

59. “An income means life to wretched mortals, but it is a terrible fate to die among the waves.”

— Hesiod

60. “Whoever, fleeing marriage and the sorrows that women cause, does not wish to wed comes to a deadly old age.”

— Hesiod

61. “Hunger is an altogether fit companion for the idle man.”

— Hesiod

62. “False shame accompanies a man that is poor, shame that either harms a man greatly or profits him; shame is with poverty, but confidence with wealth.”

— Hesiod

63. “Mortals grow swiftly in misfortune.”

— Hesiod

64. “He is senseless who would match himself against a stronger man; for he is deprived of victory and adds suffering to disgrace.”

— Hesiod

65. “When you deal with your brother, be pleasant, but get a witness.”

— Hesiod

66. “The Gods rank work above virtues.”

— Hesiod

67. “Do not get a name as overly lavish or too inhospitable.”

— Hesiod

68. “Potter is potter’s enemy, and craftsman is craftsman’s rival; tramp is jealous of tramp, and singer of singer.”

— Hesiod

69. “Night, having Sleep, the brother of Death.”

— Hesiod

70. “Do not gain basely; base gain is equal to ruin.”

— Hesiod

71. “The artist envies what the arties gains, The bard the rival bard’s successful strains.”

— Hesiod

72. “Often even a whole city suffers for a bad man who sins and contrives presumptuous deeds.”

— Hesiod

73. “Let the price fixed with a friend be sufficient, and even dealing with a brother call in witnesses, but laughingly.”

— Hesiod

74. “Do not put all your goods in hollow ships.”

— Hesiod

75. “No whispered rumours which the many spread can wholly perish.”

— Hesiod

76. “Neither make thy friend equal to a brother; but if thou shalt have made him so, be not the first to do him wrong.”

— Hesiod

77. “Men must sweat to attain virtue.”

— Hesiod

78. “Never procrastinate. Never say you’ll do it tomorrow or the next day. Slow workers never fill their barns. Neither do procrastinators. Diligence does the job.”

— Hesiod

79. “It is not possible either to trick or escape the mind of Zeus.”

— Hesiod

80. “Badness you can get easily, in quantity. The road is smooth and lies close by. But in front of excellence the immortal gods have put sweat, and long and steep is the way to do it, and rough at first. But when you come to the top, then it is easy, even though it is hard.”

— Hesiod

81. “A man who works evil against another works it really against himself, and bad advice is worst for the one who devised it.”

— Hesiod

82. “Love, who is most beautiful among the immortal gods, the melter of limbs, overwhelms in their hearts the intelligence and wise counsel of all gods and all men.”

— Hesiod

83. “An evil plan does mischief to the planner.”

— Hesiod

84. “Often a whole community together suffers in consequence of a bad man who does wrong and contrives evil.”

— Hesiod

85. “And the evil wish is most evil to the wisher.”

— Hesiod

86. “And I wish that I were not any part of the fifth generation of men, but had died before it came, or been born afterward. For here now is the age of iron.”

— Hesiod

87. “There was not after all a single kind of strife, but on earth there are two kinds: one of them a man might praise when he recognized her, but the other is blameworthy.”

— Hesiod

88. “It is from work that men are rich in flocks and wealthy, and a working man is much dearer to the immortals.”

— Hesiod

89. “Plan harm for another and harm yourself most, The evil we hatch always comes home to roost.”

— Hesiod

90. “The fool learns by suffering.”

— Hesiod

91. “Inhibition is no good provider for a needy man.”

— Hesiod

92. “And Zeus will destroy this race of mortal men too, when they, at their birth, have grey hair on their temples.”

— Hesiod

93. “Drink your fill when the jar is first opened, and when it is nearly done, but be sparing when it is half-empty; it’s a poor savingwhen you come to the dregs.”

— Hesiod

94. “Of themselves diseases come upon men continually by day and by night, bringing mischief to mortals silently; for wise Zeus took away speech from them. So is there no way to escape the will of Zeus.”

— Hesiod

95. “Badness can be got easily and in shoals; the road to her is smooth, and she lives very near us. But between us and Goodness the gods have placed the sweat of our brows;.”

— Hesiod

96. “He for himself weaves woe who weaves for others woe, and evil counsel on the counselor recoils.”

— Hesiod

97. “Better marry a maiden, so you can teach her good manners, and in particular marry one who lives close by you. Look her well over first. Don’t marry what will make your neighbors laugh at you, for while there’s nothing better a man can win him than a good wife, there’s nothing more dismal than a bad one.”

— Hesiod

98. “No day is wholly unproductive of good.”

— Hesiod

99. “From their eyelids as they glanced dripped love.”

— Hesiod

100. “Gain not base gains; base gains are the same as losses.”

— Hesiod