Aeschylus Quotes

Oaths are not the credit of men but men of oaths.

Justice turns the scale, bringing to some learning through suffering.

Old men, what are they? Fast fading the leaf, Three-footed they walk, yet frail as a child, As a dream set afloat in the daylight.

If you pour oil and vinegar into the same vessel, you would call them not friends but opponents.

The reward of suffering is experience

Since long I've held silence a remedy for harm.

I would rather be ignorant than knowledgeable of evils.

Joy steals upon me, such joy as calls forth tears.

Tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world.

I gave them hope, and so turned away their eyes from death

Unions in wedlock are perverted by the victory of shameless passion that masters the female among men and beasts.

What exists outside is a man's concern; let no woman give advice; and do no mischief within doors.

Destiny waits alike for the free man as well as for him enslaved by another's might.

God is not averse to deceit in a holy cause.

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.

And though all streams flow from a single course to cleanse the blood from polluted hand, they hasten on their course in vain.

Those who would learn must suffer. In our own despair, against our will, wisdom comes to us.

Truth is always the first casualty of war.

Overly persuasive a woman's ordinance spreads far, traveling fast; but fast dying a rumor voiced by a woman perishes.

I, schooled in misery, know many purifying rites, and I know where speech is proper and where silence.

Mourn for me rather as living than as dead.

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

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

The man whose authority is recent is always stern.

The future you shall know when it has come; before then, forget it.

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

Every ruler is harsh whose laws is new.

Don't try to make intelligent decisions when your brain is hyped

Fear hurries on my tongue through want of courage.

Know not to revere human things too much.

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.

Search well and be wise, nor believe that self-willed pride will ever be better than good counsel.

To be free from evil thoughts is God's best gift.

For children preserve the fame of a man after his death.

What is there more kindly than the feeling between host and guest?

For it would be better to die once and for all than to suffer pain for all one's life.

Rumours voiced by women come to nothing.

Excessive fear is always powerless.

With our own feathers, not by others' hands, Are we now smitten.

I pray for no more youth To perish before its prime; That Revenge and iron-heated War May fade with all that has gone before Into the night of time.

Only when a man's life comes to its end in prosperity dare we pronounce him happy.

And one who is just of his own free will shall not lack for happiness; and he will never come to utter ruin.

To make wail and lament for one's ill fortune, when one will win a tear from the audience, is well worthwhile.

Chorus: Zeus, who guided men to think who laid it down that wisdom comes alone through suffering. Still there drips in sleep against the heart grief of memory; against our pleasure we are temperate.

The power that holds the sky's majesty wins our worship.

The evils of mortals are manifold; nowhere is trouble of the same wing seen.

From him [Death] alone of all the powers of heaven Persuasion holds aloof.

A god implants in mortal guilt whenever he wants utterly to confound a house.

Obedience, you know, is Good Luck's mother, wedded to Salvation, they say.

Long tarries destiny, But comes to those who pray.