Pindar

Pindar (518 BC – 438 BC) was a Boeotian poet, counted as one of the nine lyric poets of Greece. The only works of his to have survived complete are a series of odes written to celebrate the victors in athletic games.

Quotes

 * Unless otherwise stated the translations used here are by Richard Stoneman, and are taken from Pindar, The Odes and Selected Fragments (London: Everyman Library, 1997)




 * οὔ τοι ἅπασα κερδίων φαίνοισα πρόσωπον ἀλάθει᾽ ἀτρεκής· καὶ τὸ σιγᾶν πολλάκις ἐστὶ σοφώτατον ἀνθρώπῳ νοῆσαι.
 * Here profits not To tell the whole truth with clear face unveiled. Often is man's best wisdom to be silent.
 * Nemean 5, line 16-8; page 222. (483 BC?)


 * ῥῆμα δ᾽ ἑργμάτων χρονιώτερον βιοτεύει
 * For words Live longer down the years than deeds.
 * Nemean 4, line 6; page 213. (473 BC?)


 * ἐπάμεροι: τί δέ τις; τί δ᾽ οὔ τις; σκιᾶς ὄναρ ἄνθρωπος. ἀλλ᾽ ὅταν αἴγλα διόσδοτος ἔλθῃ, λαμπρὸν φέγγος ἔπεστιν ἀνδρῶν καὶ μείλιχος αἰών
 * Creatures of a day! What is a man? What is he not? A dream of a shadow Is our mortal being. But when there comes to men A gleam of splendour given of Heaven, Then rests on them a light of glory And blessèd are their days.
 * Pythian 8, line 95-8; pages 162-3. (446 BC)
 * Cf. Man is a dream about a shadow. But when some splendour falls upon him from God, a glory comes to him and his life is sweet.
 * As quoted in No-one (1985) by R. S. Thomas; also in R.S. Thomas : Identity, Environment, and Deity (2003) by Christopher Morgan, p. 27


 * γλυκύ δ᾽ἀπείρῳ πόλεμος. πεπειραμένων δέ τις ταρβεῖ προσιόντα νιν καρδία περισσῶς.
 * War is sweet to those who have no experience of it, but the experienced man trembles exceedingly at heart on its approach.
 * Fragment 110; page 377.
 * Variant translations: This phrase is the origin of the Latin proverb "Dulce bellum inexpertis" which is sometimes misattributed to Desiderius Erasmus‎.
 * War is sweet to them that know it not.
 * War is sweet to those not acquainted with it
 * War is sweet to those who do not know it.
 * War is sweet to those that never have experienced it.
 * War is delightful to those who have had no experience of it.


 * γένοι' οἷος ἐσσὶ μαθών
 * Become such as you are, having learned what that is
 * Pythian 2, line 72.
 * Variant translations:
 * Be what you know you are
 * Be true to thyself now that thou hast learnt what manner of man thou art
 * Having learned, become who you are


 * μή, φίλα ψυχά, βίον ἀθάνατον σπεῦδε, τὰν δ᾿ ἔμπρακτον ἄντλει μαχανάν.
 * Do not yearn, O my soul, for immortal life! Use to the utmost the skill that is yours.
 * Pythian 3, line 61-62.
 * Variant translation: Seek not, my soul, immortal life, but make the most of the resources that are within your reach.


 * A good deed hidden in silence dies.
 * Fragment 121; page 387


 * Time is the best preserver of righteous men.
 * Fragment 159; page 387


 * Law, the king of all mortals and immortals.
 * As quoted in Plato's Gorgias, 484b.

Olympian Odes (476 BC)

 * Ἄριστον μὲν ὕδωρ, ὁ δὲ χρυσὸς αἰθόμενον πῦρ ἅτε διαπρέπει νυκτὶ μεγάνορος ἔξοχα πλούτου.
 * Best blessing of all is water, And gold like a fiery flame gleaming at night, Supreme amidst the pride of lordly wealth.
 * Olympian 1, line 1-2; page 1
 * Closer translation:
 * '''Best is water, but gold stands out blazing like fire at night beyond haughty wealth.


 * ἁμέραι δ᾽ ἐπίλοιποι μάρτυρες σοφώτατοι.
 * Days to come will prove the surest witness.
 * Olympian 1, line 33-4; page 4


 * εἰ δὲ θεὸν ἀνήρ τις ἔλπεταί τι λαθέμεν ἔρδων, ἁμαρτάνει.
 * But if a man shall hope in aught he does To escape the eyes of god, he makes an error.
 * Olympian 1, line 63; page 6


 * σοφὸς ὁ πολλὰ εἰδὼς φυᾷ.
 * Whoever knows many things By nature is a poet.
 * Olympian 2, line 87; page 16; the Greek simply says: "wise is one who knows much by nature," but σοφός is Pindar's usual word for poet.
 * Variant translations:
 * Inborn of nature's wisdom The poet's truth.