Aeschylus was an Ancient Greek playwright who lived in the 5th century BC. He is often credited as the father of tragedy, and is the earliest of the three great tragedians of classical Athens. He wrote over 70 plays, of which only seven survive to this day.
What is the most famous quote by 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
What can you learn from Aeschylus (Life Lessons)
- Aeschylus teaches us to embrace our suffering and use it as a source of strength and wisdom. He encourages us to accept the inevitability of death and to use our time on earth to create something meaningful.
- He reminds us to stay humble and to recognize our limits, as well as the power of fate and destiny.
- He also emphasizes the importance of courage, justice, and integrity in our lives, and the power of storytelling to bring us closer together.
The most blissful Aeschylus quotes that will be huge advantage for your personal development
Following is a list of the best quotes, including various Aeschylus inspirational quotes, and other famous sayings by Aeschylus.
Zeus, first cause, prime mover; for what thing without Zeus is done among mortals?
There is no pain so great as the memory of joy in present grief.
It is in the character of very few men to honor without envy a friend who has prospered.
It is an easy thing for one whose foot is on the outside of calamity to give advice and to rebuke the sufferer.
The air is Zeus, Zeus earth, and Zeus the heaven, Zeus all that is, and what transcends them all.
Better to die on your feet than live on your knees.
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.
By polluting clear water with slime you will never find good drinking water.
Tragic quotes by Aeschylus
I have learned to hate all traitors, and there is no disease that I spit on more than treachery.
Married love between man and woman is bigger than oaths guarded by right of nature.
Wrong must not win by technicalities.
ATHENA: You wish to be called righteous rather than act right.
[...] I say, wrong must not win by technicalities.
Call no man happy till he is dead.
Few men have the natural strength to honor a friend's success without envy.
God's most lordly gift to man is decency of mind.
Wisdom comes alone through suffering.
Quotations by Aeschylus that are epic and poetic
Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering.
It is not the oath that makes us believe the man, but the man the oath.
When a man's willing and eager the god's join in.
For know that no one is free, except Zeus.
God always strives together with those who strive.
The reward of suffering is experience.
There is no sickness worse for me than words that to be kind must lie.
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.
Of all the gods only death does not desire gifts.
Words are the physicians of a mind diseased.
For the lips of Zeus do not know how to lie, but bring to fulfilment every word.
Wisdom comes through suffering. Trouble, with its memories of pain, Drips in our hearts as we try to sleep, So men against their will Learn to practice moderation. Favours come to us from gods.
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.
Willingly no one chooses the yoke of slavery.
Whoever is just willingly and without compulsion will not lack happiness; he will never be utterly destroyed.
But when once the earth has sucked up a dead man's blood, there is no way to raise him up.
Memory is the mother of all wisdom.
The act of evil breeds others to follow, young sins in its own likeness.
So in the Libyan fable it is told That once an eagle, stricken with a dart, Said, when he saw the fashion of the shaft: With our own feathers, not by others' hands, Are we now smitten.
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.
Be bold and boast, just like the cock beside the hen.
God loves to help him who strives to help himself.
The tongue of slander is too prompt with wanton malice to wound the stranger.
Whoever is new to power is always harsh.
When strength is yoked with justice, where is a mightier pair than they?
In every tyrant's heart there springs in the end this poison, that he cannot trust a friend.
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.
In the lack of judgment great harm arises, but one vote cast can set right a house.
Learning is ever in the freshness of its youth, even for the old.
Time brings all things to pass.
Who, except the gods, can live time through forever without any pain?
We shall perish by guile just as we slew.
It is easy when we are in prosperity to give advice to the afflicted.