Aeschylus

The words of truth are simple.

Happiness is a choice that requires effort at times.

God loves to help him who strives to help himself.

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.

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

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

By polluting clear water with slime you will never find good drinking water.

There is no pain so great as the memory of joy in present grief.

God's most lordly gift to man is decency of mind.

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.

In every tyrant's heart there springs in the end this poison that he cannot trust a friend.

I have learned to hate all traitors, and there is no disease that I spit on more than treachery.

Memory is the mother of all wisdom.

For somehow this disease inheres in tyranny, never to trust one's friends.

It is a profitable thing if one is wise to seem foolish.

For the impious act begets more after it like to the parent stock.

He who goes unenvied shall not be admired.

There is no disgrace in an enemy suffering ill at an enemy's hand, when you hate mutually.

Married love between man and woman is bigger than oaths guarded by right of nature.

I willingly speak to those who know, but for those who do not know I forget.

Time brings all things to pass.

In the lack of judgment great harm arises, but one vote cast can set right a house.

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.

Bronze in the mirror of the form wine of the mind.

The one knowing what is profitable and not the man knowing many things is wise.

For hostile word let hostile word be paid.

Whenever a man makes haste God too hastens with him.

Too few rejoice at a friend's good fortune.

Excessive fear is always powerless.

For this is the mark of a wise and upright man not to rail against the gods in misfortune.

Know not to revere human things too much.

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

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.

The man whose authority is recent is always stern.

There are times when fear is good. It must keep its watchful place at the heart's controls.

Death is softer by far than tyranny.

Self-will in the man who does not reckon wisely is by itself the weakest of all things.

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

When strength is yoked with justice where is a mightier pair than they?

Whoever is new to power is always harsh.

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

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

Who except the gods can live time through forever without any pain?

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

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.

The wisest of the wise may err.

Everyone's quick to blame the alien.

I say you must not win an unjust case by oaths.

It is an ill thing to be the first to bring news of ill.

The man who does ill must suffer ill.

Words are the physicians of a mind diseased.

It is not the oath that makes us believe the man but the man the oath.

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

There is no sickness worse for me than words that to be kind must lie.

What good is it to live a life that brings pains?

Time as he grows old teaches all things.

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

It is good even for old men to learn wisdom.

We must pronounce him fortunate who has ended his life in fair prosperity.

You have been trapped in the inescapable net of ruin by your own want of sense.

Don't you know this that words are doctors to a diseased temperment?

I'm not afraid of storms for I'm learning to sail my ship.

When a man's willing and eager the god's join in.

For a murderous blow let murderous blow atone.

Be bold and boast just like the cock beside the hen.

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

Wisdom comes alone through suffering.

To mourn and bewail your ill-fortune when you will gain a tear from those who listen this is worth the trouble.

Who apart from the gods is without pain for his whole lifetime's length?

Of all the gods only death does not desire gifts.

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

Mourn for me rather as living than as dead.

Of prosperity mortals can never have enough.

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

It is always in season for old men to learn.

For know that no one is free except Zeus.

God always strives together with those who strive.

It is in the character of very few men to honor without envy a friend who has prospered.

By Time and Age full many things are taught.

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.

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.

I know how men in exile feed on dreams.

It is easy when we are in prosperity to give advice to the afflicted.

What atonement is there for blood spilt upon the earth?

Justice turns the scale bringing to some learning through suffering.

Call no man happy till he is dead.

I would rather be ignorant than knowledgeable of evils.

It is an easy thing for one whose foot is on the outside of calamity to give advice and to rebuke the sufferer.

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

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

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.

God lends a helping hand to the man who tries hard.

We shall perish by guile just as we slew.

It is best for the wise man not to seem wise.

Death is easier than a wretched life, and better never to have born than to live and fare badly.

Obedience is the mother of success and is wedded to safety.

From a small seed a mighty trunk may grow.

It is a light thing for whoever keeps his foot outside trouble to advise and counsel him that suffers.

When a match has equal partners then I fear not.

The anvil of justice is planted firm and fate who makes the sword does the forging in advance.

But time growing old teaches all things.

His resolve is not to seem the bravest but to be.

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