Top 15 Pindar Quotes

ancient Greek lyric poet

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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.

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Native Name: Πίνδαρος

Alternative Names: Pindarus • Pindaros • Dircæan Swan

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σοφὸς ὁ πολλὰ εἰδὼς φυᾷ.

But if a man shall hope in aught he does
To escape the eyes of god, he makes an error.

εἰ δὲ θεὸν ἀνήρ τις ἔλπεταί τι λαθέμεν ἔρδων, ἁμαρτάνει.

Days to come will prove the surest witness.

ἁμέραι δ᾽ ἐπίλοιποι
μάρτυρες σοφώτατοι.

Best blessing of all is water, And gold like a fiery flame gleaming at night,
Supreme amidst the pride of lordly wealth.

Ἄριστον μὲν ὕδωρ, ὁ δὲ χρυσὸς αἰθόμενον πῦρ ἅτε διαπρέπει νυκτὶ μεγάνορος ἔξοχα πλούτου.

Law, the king of all mortals and immortals.

Time is the best preserver of righteous men.

A good deed hidden in silence dies.

Do not yearn, O my soul, for immortal life!
Use to the utmost
the skill that is yours.

μή, φίλα ψυχά, βίον ἀθάνατον
σπεῦδε, τὰν δ᾿ ἔμπρακτον ἄντλει μαχανάν.

Become such as you are, having learned what that is

γένοι' οἷος ἐσσὶ μαθών

War is sweet to those who have no experience of it, but the experienced man trembles exceedingly at heart on its approach.