Aeschylus was an ancient Greek tragedian. He is often described as the father of tragedy. Profoundly inspirational Aeschylus quotes will encourage you to think a little deeper than you usually would and broaden your perspective.
If you’re searching for inspirational quotes by famous authors that perfectly capture what you’d like to say or just want to feel inspired yourself, browse through an amazing collection of profound Aldous Huxley quotes, amazing Alice Walker quotes and top Anais Nin quotes.
Famous Aeschylus Quotes
Whenever a man makes haste, God too hastens with him. – Aeschylus
Time waxing old can many a lesson teach. – Aeschylus
God’s mouth knows not how to speak falsehood, but he brings to pass every word. – Aeschylus
The saying goes that the gods leave a town once it is captured. – Aeschylus
In few men is it part of nature to respect a friend’s prosperity without begrudging him. – Aeschylus
It is best for the wise man not to seem wise. – Aeschylus
The so-called mother of the child isn’t the child’s begetter, but only a sort of nursing soil for the new-sown seed. The man, the one on top, is the true parent, while she, a stranger, foster’s a stranger’s sprout. – Aeschylus
The air is Zeus, Zeus earth, and Zeus the heaven, Zeus all that is, and what transcends them all. – Aeschylus
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. – Aeschylus
There is no pain so great as the memory of joy in present grief. – Aeschylus
Only when a man’s life comes to its end in prosperity dare, we pronounce him happy. – Aeschylus
Human prosperity never rests but always craves more, till blown up with pride it totters and falls. From the opulent mansions pointed at by all passers-by none warns it away, none cries, ‘Let no more riches enter!’. – Aeschylus
For wherein is life sweet to him who suffers grief? – Aeschylus
Number, the most excellent of all inventions. – Aeschylus
The reward of suffering is experience – Aeschylus
It is through suffering that learning comes. – Aeschylus
A great ox stands on my tongue. – Aeschylus
The people’s awe and innate fear will hold injustice back by day, by night, so long as the people leave the laws intact, just as they are: muddy the cleanest spring, and all you’ll have to drink is muddy water. – Aeschylus
When a man dies, flesh is frayed and broken in the fire, but not his will. – Aeschylus
We shall perish by guile just as we slew. – Aeschylus
Ask the gods nothing excessive. – Aeschylus
There is a limit to the best of health, disease is always a near neighbor. – Aeschylus
Wiles and deceit are female qualities. – Aeschylus
For the marriage bed ordained by fate for men and women is stronger than an oath and guarded by Justice. – Aeschylus
Obedience, you know, is Good Luck’s mother, wedded to Salvation, they say. – Aeschylus
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. – Aeschylus
I pray the gods will give me some relief and end this weary job. One long full year I’ve been lying here, on this rooftop, the palace of the sons of Atreus, resting on my arms, just like a dog. I’ve come to know the night sky, every star, the powers we see glittering in the sky, bringing winter and summer to us all, as the constellations rise and sink. – Aeschylus
What is there more kindly than the feeling between host and guest? – Aeschylus
Truth is always the first casualty of war. – Aeschylus
The force of necessity is irresistible. – Aeschylus
Better to die on your feet than live on your knees. – Aeschylus
In every tyrant’s heart there springs in the end this poison, that he cannot trust a friend. – Aeschylus
There is no disgrace in an enemy suffering ill at an enemy’s hand, when you hate mutually. – Aeschylus
Delay not to seize the hour! – Aeschylus
Whoever is just willingly and without compulsion will not lack happiness; he will never be utterly destroyed. – Aeschylus
Unjustly men hate death, which is the greatest defense against their many ills. – Aeschylus
Beyond age, leaf withered, man goes three footed no stronger than a child is, a dream that falters in daylight. – Aeschylus
No bribes. Nothing that passes under the roof of a temple Or under the roof of the mouth, can appease heaven’s anger Or deflect its aim. – Aeschylus
Success! to thee, as to a God, men bend the knee. – Aeschylus
We spoil ourselves with scruples long as things go well. – Aeschylus
We must pronounce him fortunate who has ended his life in fair prosperity. – Aeschylus
When we sleep the soul is lit up… by many eyes, and with them, we can see everything that we cannot see in the daytime. – Aeschylus
It is a light thing for whoever keeps his foot outside trouble to advice and counsel him that suffers. – Aeschylus
Once to die is better than length of days in sorrow without end. – Aeschylus
Everyone’s quick to blame the alien. – Aeschylus
Alas, poor men, their destiny. When all goes well a shadow will overthrow it. If it be unkind one stroke of a wet sponge wipes all the picture out. – Aeschylus
Sweet is a grief well ended. – Aeschylus
The wisest of the wise may err. – Aeschylus
Simple is the speech of truth. – Aeschylus
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. – Aeschylus
In war, truth is the first casualty. – Aeschylus
Overly persuasive a woman’s ordinance spreads far, traveling fast; but fast dying a rumor voiced by a woman perishes. – Aeschylus
Who, except the gods, can live time through forever without any pain? – Aeschylus
Even the old should learn. – Aeschylus
They sent forth men to battle, but no such men return; And home, to claim their welcome, Come ashes in an urn – Aeschylus
Truly even he errs that is wiser than the wise. – Aeschylus
Unions in wedlock are perverted by the victory of shameless passion that masters the female among men and beasts. – Aeschylus
A prosperous fool is a grievous burden. – Aeschylus
If you will take me as your teacher, you will not kick against the pricks. – Aeschylus
Take courage; pain’s extremity soon ends. – Aeschylus
Arrogance is truly the child of impiety, but from health of soul comes happiness, dear to all, much prayed for. – Aeschylus
Misfortune wandering the same track lights now upon one and now upon another. – Aeschylus
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. – Aeschylus
A people’s wrath voiced abroad bringeth grave Danger, no less than public curse pronounced. – Aeschylus
No one can count the terrors that the earth spawns, catastrophic, gruesome, and the vast arms of the sea swarm with brute monsters bent on harm, and everywhere between the sky and ground lights bloom by day in flares and sudden bolts; and birds and beasts alike can tell of the whirlwind’s whirling wrath. – Aeschylus
The reward of pain is experience. – Aeschylus
Memory is the mother of all wisdom. – Aeschylus
The seed of mortals broods o’er passing things, and hath nought surer than the smoke-cloud’s shadow. – Aeschylus
The laws of a state change with the changing times. – Aeschylus
I have learned to hate all traitors, and there is no disease that I spit on more than treachery. – Aeschylus
Wrong must not win by technicalities. – Aeschylus
The gods at will can shape a gladder strain, and from the lamentations at the graveside, a song of triumph may arise. – Aeschylus
If you are not envied, you are not enviable. – Aeschylus
But who can describe the overweening pride of men? Or women mad with passion, reckless in their hearts, soulmates to every kind of ruin that befalls us? Wild passion, unrestrained, boundless, that overcomes the women, perverts the yoke of wedlock for beasts and men alike. – Aeschylus
Justice, voiceless, unseen, seeth thee when thou sleepest and when thou goest forth and when thou liest down. Continually doth she attend thee, now aslant thy course, now at a later time. These lines are from a section of doubtful or spurious fragments. – Aeschylus
Yet though a man gets many wounds in breast, He dieth not, unless the appointed time, The limit of his life’s span, coincide; Nor does the man who by the hearth at home Sits still, escape the doom that Fate decrees. – Aeschylus
To learn is to be young, however old. – Aeschylus
Time in his aging overtakes all things alike. – Aeschylus
The moving light, rejoicing in its strength, Sped from the pyre of pine, and urged its way, In golden glory, like some strange new sun. – Aeschylus
If you pour oil and vinegar into the same vessel, you would call them not friends but opponents. – Aeschylus
The words of truth are simple. – Aeschylus
Time brings all things to pass. – Aeschylus
This is the law: blood spilt upon the ground cries out for more. – Aeschylus
Bronze is the mirror of form, wine of the heart. – Aeschylus
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. – Aeschylus
The unenvied man is not enviable. – Aeschylus
Call no man happy till he is dead. – Aeschylus
The man who does ill, ill must suffer too. – Aeschylus
Self-will in the man who does not reckon wisely is by itself the weakest of all things. – Aeschylus
You’ll see all other mortal sinners, the ones who flout the honor owed to gods or guests, or loving parents you’ll see them get the justice they deserve. For Hades holds men mightily to a strict accounting down below the earth; he sees all things, inscribes them within the book of his remembering. – Aeschylus
The evils of mortals are manifold; nowhere is trouble of the same wing seen. – Aeschylus
Time cleanses what it touches over time. – Aeschylus
Hungry wailing standeth not aloof. – Aeschylus
Art is far feebler than necessity. – Aeschylus
With our own feathers, not by others’ hands,Are we now smitten. – Aeschylus
Justice turns the scale, bringing to some learning through suffering. – Aeschylus
For the impious act begets more after it, like to the parent stock. – Aeschylus
Nor does night conceal men’s deeds of ill, but whatsoe’er thou dost, think that some God beholds it. – Aeschylus
Old men are children once again a dream that sways and wavers into the hard light of day. – Aeschylus
For in the voyage of the heart, there is a freight of hatred, and the wind of wrath blows shrill. – Aeschylus
Rumours voiced by women come to nothing. – Aeschylus
What exists outside is a man’s concern; let no woman give advice; and do no mischief within doors. – Aeschylus
I warn the marauder dragging plunder, chaotic, rich beyond all rights: he’ll strike his sails, harried at long last, stunned when the squalls of torment break his spars to bits. – Aeschylus
Obedience is the mother of success and is wedded to safety. – Aeschylus
Success is man’s god. – Aeschylus
Don’t you know this, that words are doctors to a diseased temperment? – Aeschylus
I gave them hope, and so turned away their eyes from death – Aeschylus
The burning gaze of a young woman, such as hath tasted man, shall not escape me; for I have a spirit keen to mark these things. – Aeschylus
Unanimous hatred is the greatest medicine for a human community. – Aeschylus
It is a profitable thing, if one is wise, to seem foolish. – Aeschylus
A god implants in mortal guilt whenever he wants utterly to confound a house. – Aeschylus
Many among men are they who set high the show of honor, yet break justice. – Aeschylus
God ever works with those who work with will. – Aeschylus
Nought is there in wealth That serves as bulwark ‘gainst the subtle stealth Of Destiny and Doom. – Aeschylus
From a just fraud God turneth not away. – Aeschylus
It is easy when we are in prosperity to give advice to the afflicted. – Aeschylus
The future you shall know when it has come; before then, forget it. – Aeschylus
His resolve is not to seem the bravest, but to be. – Aeschylus
The best by far is to marry in one’s own rank. – Aeschylus
On me the tempest falls. It does not make me tremble. O holy Mother Earth, O air and sun, behold me. I am wronged. – Aeschylus
Tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world. – Aeschylus
When the black and mortal blood of man has fallen to the ground … who then can sing spells to call it back again? – Aeschylus
Still to the sufferer comes, as due from God, a glory that to suffering owes its birth. – Aeschylus
When a tongue fails to send forth appropriate shafts, there might be a word to act as healer of these. – Aeschylus
Making it a valid law to learn by suffering. – Aeschylus
For there below ground sits the Dark God, strong to call men to judgment; he sees all, and writes it in his memory. – Aeschylus
It is always the season for the old to learn. – Aeschylus
Happiness is a choice that requires effort at times. – Aeschylus
May dawn, as the proverb goes, bring happy tidings coming from her mother night. – Aeschylus
Suffering brings experience. – Aeschylus
By polluting clear water with slime you will never find good drinking water. – Aeschylus
God is not averse to deceit in a holy cause. – Aeschylus
Too few rejoice at a friend’s good fortune. – Aeschylus
You have been trapped in the inescapable net of ruin by your own want of sense. – Aeschylus
To be free from evil thoughts is God’s best gift. – Aeschylus
Fear is stronger than arms. – Aeschylus
Excessive fear is always powerless. – Aeschylus
It is the nature of mortals to kick a fallen man. – Aeschylus
For sufferers it is sweet to know before-hand clearly the pain that still remains for them. – Aeschylus
But from the good health of the mind comes that which is dear to all and the object of prayer-happiness. – Aeschylus
Joy steals upon me, such joy as calls forth tears. – Aeschylus
Reverence for parents stands written among the three laws of most revered righteousness. – Aeschylus
To mourn and bewail your ill-fortune, when you will gain a tear from those who listen, this is worth the trouble. – Aeschylus
Old age hath stronger sense of right than youth. – Aeschylus
Jars neither of wine nor of water shall fail in the houses of the rich. – Aeschylus
And one who is just of his own free will shall not lack for happiness; and he will never come to utter ruin. – Aeschylus
In war the first casualty is the truth. – Aeschylus
For by the will of the gods Fate hath held sway since ancient days. – Aeschylus
I know how men in exile feed on dreams. – Aeschylus
If a man should wanton walk with crime … he shall find in death no great deliverance. – Aeschylus
God lends a helping hand to the man who tries hard. – Aeschylus
Nothing forces us to know What we do not want to know Except pain – Aeschylus
In visions of the night, like dropping rain, Descend the many memories of pain. – Aeschylus
For a deadly blow let him pay with a deadly blow: it is for him who has done a deed to suffer. – Aeschylus
I say you must not win an unjust case by oaths. – Aeschylus
When a man’s willing and eager the god’s join in. – Aeschylus
For hostile word let hostile word be paid. – Aeschylus
Who apart from the gods is without pain for his whole lifetime’s length? – Aeschylus
Bonds and the pangs of hunger are excellent prophet doctors for the wits. – Aeschylus
For know that no one is free, except Zeus. – Aeschylus
Every ruler is harsh whose laws is new. – Aeschylus
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. – Aeschylus
But I will place this carefully fed pig Within the crackling oven; and, I pray, What nicer dish can e’er be given to man. – Aeschylus
For the lips of Zeus do not know how to lie, but bring to fulfilment every word. – Aeschylus
The misfortunes of mankind are of varied plumage. – Aeschylus
When a man takes the road to destruction, the gods help him along. – Aeschylus
Do not kick against the pricks. – Aeschylus
There is no avoidance in delay. – Aeschylus
Wisdom comes alone through suffering. – Aeschylus
I, schooled in misery, know many purifying rites, and I know where speech is proper and where silence. – Aeschylus
Learning is ever in the freshness of its youth, even for the old. – Aeschylus
He who goes unenvied shall not be admired. – Aeschylus
In the lack of judgment great harm arises, but one vote cast can set right a house. – Aeschylus
The truth Has to be melted out of our stubborn lives By suffering. Nothing speaks the truth, Nothing tells us how things really are, Nothing forces us to know What we do not want to know Except pain. And this is how the gods declare their love. – Aeschylus
Against necessity, against its strength, no one can fight and win. – Aeschylus
For children preserve the fame of a man after his death. – Aeschylus
It is in the character of very few men to honor without envy a friend who has prospered. – Aeschylus
Watchful are the Gods of all Hands with slaughter stained. The black Furies wait, and when a man Has grown by luck, not justice, great, With sudden overturn of chance They wear him to a shade, and, cast Down to perdition, who shall save him? – Aeschylus
In the sinews of the dead there is no blood. – Aeschylus
For it would be better to die once and for all than to suffer pain for all one’s life. – Aeschylus
Search well and be wise, nor believe that self-willed pride will ever be better than good counsel. – Aeschylus
Lustre of man walking proud beneath the sky diminishes to nothing and goes unregarded. – Aeschylus
By suffering comes wisdom. – Aeschylus
I pray the gods some respite from the weary task of this long year’s watch that lying on the Atreidae’s roof on bended arm, dog- like, I have kept, marking the conclave of all night’s stars, those potentates blazing in the heavens that bring winter and summer to mortal men, the constellations, when they wane, when they rise. – Aeschylus
To many mortals silence great gain brings. – Aeschylus
When strength is yoked with justice, where is a mightier pair than they? – Aeschylus
Mourn for me rather as living than as dead. – Aeschylus
Justice shines in very smoky homes, and honors the righteous; but the gold-spangled mansions where the hands are unclean, she leaves with eyes averted. – Aeschylus
God planteth in mortal men the cause of sin whensoever he wills utterly to destroy a house. – Aeschylus
For the mighty, even to give away is grace. – Aeschylus
The field of doom bears death as its harvest. – Aeschylus
The adulterer dies. An old custom, justice. – Aeschylus
Of all the gods only death does not desire gifts. – Aeschylus
The holy heaven yearns to wound the earth, and yearning layeth hold on the earth to join in wedlock; the rain, fallen from the amorous heaven, impregnates the earth, and it bringeth forth for mankind the food of flocks and herds and Demeter’s gifts; and from that moist marriage-rite the woods put on their bloom. – Aeschylus
He hears but half who hears one party only. – Aeschylus
Death hath a fairer fame than a life of toil. – Aeschylus
Long tarries destiny But comes to those who pray. – Aeschylus
But still the block of Vengeance firm doth stand, and Fate, as swordsmith, hammers blow on blow. – Aeschylus
Ye waves That o’er th’ interminable ocean wreathe Your crisped smiles. – Aeschylus
Report uttered by the people is everywhere of great power. – Aeschylus
And now it goes as it goes and where it ends is Fate. And neither by singeing flesh nor tipping cups of wine nor shedding burning tears can you enchant away the rigid Fury. – Aeschylus
Be bold and boast, just like the cock beside the hen. – Aeschylus
Fear hurries on my tongue through want of courage. – Aeschylus
From a small seed a mighty trunk may grow. – Aeschylus
Oaths are not the credit of men but men of oaths. – Aeschylus
It is like a woman indeed To take rapture before the fact is shown for true. They believe too easily, are too quick to shift From ground to ground; and swift indeed The rumor voiced by a woman dies again. – Aeschylus
Of prosperity mortals can never have enough. – Aeschylus
Remember to be submissive, thou art analien, a fugitive, and in need. – Aeschylus
Few men have the natural strength to honor a friend’s success without envy. – Aeschylus
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. – Aeschylus
For a single path leads to the house of Hades. – Aeschylus
Fortune is for all, judgment is theirs who have won it for themselves. – Aeschylus
Only through suffering do we learn – Aeschylus
Myriad laughter of the ocean waves. – Aeschylus
