There are many famous Aeschylus quotes available all over the internet. So I have put together a collection of top quotes to save your time. I have also added a short bio of Aeschylus. Let’s start!
Aeschylus: Ancient Greek Dramatist
The ancient Greeks were the pioneer of art and Culture. Aeschylus was a great Greek tragedy dramatist. For his substantial contribution to this drama genre, people call him ‘the father of tragedy.
Early Life: He bore on about 2500 years ago, 523 BC in Athens. He was born in a rich and noble family. At 15, because of Athens’ political issues, his family shifted to the deme of Eleusis. He worked as a vineyard in his prior days. He joined in a war against the army of Darius.
Career challenges: He started writing tragedy at 26 only. He won the first prize in Dionysia for his first drama, The Persians. His misfortunes became popular. He wrote about 90 plays. He was one pioneer of the necessary development of emotion. He was the first dramatist to introduce a second person in drama. He brought a definite change in the scene.
He increased the dialogue, decreased the chorus. He was winning all the competitions of shows. He not only contributed to drama but also in politics. He was one of the ancient men of New Greece. Democracy. He was a wise person with deep philosophy. He transformed old myths into a powerful message. His dramas represented the benevolent world. There’s a debate about what his last show was. Many people say that his previous scene was Prometheus Bound. His death was dramatic as well. He died in 456 BC.
Achievements: Awards were not conventional in 2500 years ago. But he won many competitions.
- He got the first prize in the competition against Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex.
- first prize at the Dionysia
He had been living for thousands of years through his extraordinary work. This greatest dramatist turned tragedy into art.
Top Aeschylus Quotes
“There is no pain so great as the memory of joy in present grief.”
“God always strives together with those who strive.”
“God loves to help him who strives to help himself.”
“From a small seed a mighty trunk may grow.”
“He who learns must suffer. And even in our sleep pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, and in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God.”
“There is no sickness worse for me than words that to be kind must lie.”
“Bronze in the mirror of the form, wine of the mind.”
“The words of truth are simple.”
“Search well and be wise, nor believe that self-willed pride will ever be better than good counsel.”
“My friends, whoever has had experience of evils knows how whenever a flood of ills comes upon mortals, a man fears everything; but whenever a divine force cheers on our voyage, then we believe that the same fate will always blow fair.”
“Happiness is a choice that requires effort at times.”
“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.”
“And though all streams flow from a single course to cleanse the blood from polluted hand, they hasten on their course in vain.”
“Wisdom comes alone through suffering.”
“It is in the character of very few men to honor without envy a friend who has prospered.”
“I have learned to hate all traitors, and there is no disease that I spit on more than treachery.”
“You have been trapped in the inescapable net of ruin by your own want of sense.”
“Obedience is the mother of success and is wedded to safety.”
“We must pronounce him fortunate who has ended his life in fair prosperity.”
“By polluting clear water with slime you will never find good drinking water.”
“Alas for the affairs of men! When they are fortunate you might compare them to a shadow; and if they are unfortunate, a wet sponge with one dash wipes the picture away.”
“And one who is just of his own free will shall not lack for happiness; and he will never come to utter ruin.”
“Everyone’s quick to blame the alien.”
“Be bold and boast, just like the cock beside the hen.”
“It is not the oath that makes us believe the man, but the man the oath.”
“Excessive fear is always powerless.”
“It is good even for old men to learn wisdom.”
“Self-will in the man who does not reckon wisely is by itself the weakest of all things.”
“The anvil of justice is planted firm, and fate who makes the sword does the forging in advance.”
“In the lack of judgment great harm arises, but one vote cast can set right a house.”
“What atonement is there for blood spilt upon the earth?”
“Ah, lives of men! When prosperous they glitter – Like a fair picture; when misfortune comes – A wet sponge at one blow has blurred the painting.”
“What is there more kindly than the feeling between host and guest?”
“Too few rejoice at a friend’s good fortune.”
“The wisest of the wise may err.”
“God lends a helping hand to the man who tries hard.”
“For there is no defense for a man who, in the excess of his wealth, has kicked the great altar of Justice out of sight.”
“God’s most lordly gift to man is decency of mind.”
“Married love between man and woman is bigger than oaths guarded by right of nature.”
“Since long I’ve held silence a remedy for harm.”
“To be free from evil thoughts is God’s best gift.”
“Memory is the mother of all wisdom.”
“The man who does ill must suffer ill.”
“His resolve is not to seem the bravest, but to be.”
“The one knowing what is profitable, and not the man knowing many things, is wise.”
“It is a light thing for whoever keeps his foot outside trouble to advise and counsel him that suffers.”
“The evils of mortals are manifold; nowhere is trouble of the same wing seen.”
“I know how men in exile feed on dreams.”
“I would rather be ignorant than knowledgeable of evils.”
“For somehow this disease inheres in tyranny, never to trust one’s friends.”
“What exists outside is a man’s concern; let no woman give advice; and do no mischief within doors.”
“But time growing old teaches all things.”
“It is an easy thing for one whose foot is on the outside of calamity to give advice and to rebuke the sufferer.”
“Justice turns the scale, bringing to some learning through suffering.”
“To mourn and bewail your ill-fortune, when you will gain a tear from those who listen, this is worth the trouble.”
“For this is the mark of a wise and upright man, not to rail against the gods in misfortune.”
“There is no disgrace in an enemy suffering ill at an enemy’s hand, when you hate mutually.”
“If a man suffers ill, let it be without shame; for this is the only profit when we are dead. You will never say a good word about deeds that are evil and disgraceful.”
“When strength is yoked with justice, where is a mightier pair than they?”
“For the impious act begets more after it, like to the parent stock.”
“For know that no one is free, except Zeus.”
“Neither a life of anarchy nor one beneath a despot should you praise; to all that lies in the middle a god has given excellence.”
“It is best for the wise man not to seem wise.”
“I, schooled in misery, know many purifying rites, and I know where speech is proper and where silence.”
“For children preserve the fame of a man after his death.”
“Of all the gods only death does not desire gifts.”
“Who apart from the gods is without pain for his whole lifetime’s length?”
“Who, except the gods, can live time through forever without any pain?”
“It is a profitable thing, if one is wise, to seem foolish.”
“By Time and Age full many things are taught.”
“Only when a man’s life comes to its end in prosperity dare we pronounce him happy.”
“Unions in wedlock are perverted by the victory of shameless passion that masters the female among men and beasts.”
“Time brings all things to pass.”
“He who goes unenvied shall not be admired.”
“The man whose authority is recent is always stern.”
“When a match has equal partners then I fear not.”
“Words are the physicians of a mind diseased.”
“We shall perish by guile just as we slew.”
“I willingly speak to those who know, but for those who do not know I forget.”
“If you pour oil and vinegar into the same vessel, you would call them not friends but opponents.”
“It is an ill thing to be the first to bring news of ill.”
“Don’t you know this, that words are doctors to a diseased temperment?”
“Of prosperity mortals can never have enough.”
“Know not to revere human things too much.”
“There are times when fear is good. It must keep its watchful place at the heart’s controls.”
“In every tyrant’s heart there springs in the end this poison, that he cannot trust a friend.”
“It is easy when we are in prosperity to give advice to the afflicted.”
“What good is it to live a life that brings pains?”
“Mourn for me rather as living than as dead.”
“It is always in season for old men to learn.”
“Death is softer by far than tyranny.”
“When a man’s willing and eager the god’s join in.”
“Time as he grows old teaches all things.”
“Destiny waits alike for the free man as well as for him enslaved by another’s might.”
“For a murderous blow let murderous blow atone.”
“A god implants in mortal guilt whenever he wants utterly to confound a house.”
“Death is easier than a wretched life; and better never to have born than to live and fare badly.”
“Whoever is new to power is always harsh.”
“I say you must not win an unjust case by oaths.”
“For hostile word let hostile word be paid.”
“Whenever a man makes haste, God too hastens with him.”
I hope this list of Aeschylus quotes was helpful. Let us know if you have any quote requirements. Till then, happy reading!
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