Weak mortals, chained to the earth, creatures of clay as frail as the foliage of the woods, you unfortunate race, whose life is but darkness, as unreal as a shadow, the illusion of a dream.
ARISTOPHANESIt should not prejudice my voice that I’m not born a man, if I say something advantageous to the present situation. For I’m taxed too, and as a toll provide men for the nation.
More Aristophanes Quotes
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Full of wiles, full of guile, at all times, in all ways, are the children of Men.
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By words the mind is winged.
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Ah! the Generals! they are numerous, but not good for much!
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When men drink, then they are rich and successful and win lawsuits and are happy and help their friends. Quickly, bring me a beaker of wine, so that I may wet my mind and say something clever.
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How can I study from below, that which is above?
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One bush, they say, can never hide two thieves.
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These impossible women! How they do get around us! The poet was right: can’t live with them, or without them!
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To invoke solely the weaker arguments and yet triumph is an art worth more than a hundred thousand drachmae.
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There is no honest man! not one, that can resist the attraction of gold!
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Prayers without wine are perfectly pointless.
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To win the people, always cook them some savoury that pleases them.
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Your lost friends are not dead, but gone before, advanced a stage or two upon that road which you must travel in the steps they trod.
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If you strike upon a thought that baffles you, break off from that entanglement and try another, so shall your wits be fresh to start again.
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I would treat her like an egg, the shell of which we remove before eating it; I would take off her mask and then kiss her pretty face.
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Woman is adept at getting money for herself and will not easily let herself be deceived; she understands deceit too well herself.
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Comedy is allied to justice.
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Thou shouldst not decide until thou hast heard what both have to say.
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The gods, my dear simple fellow, are a mere expression coined by vulgar superstition. We frown upon such coinage here.
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To plunder, to lie, to show your arse, are three essentials for climbing high.
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Tis not for us to warn a wilful sinner; We stay him not, but let him run his course, Till by misfortunes rous’d, his conscience wakes, And prompts him to appease th’ offended gods.
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Times change. The vices of your age are stylish today.
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It is bad taste for a poet to be coarse and hairy.
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Ignorance can be cured, but stupidity is forever.
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The love of wine is a good man’s failing.
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When men drink wine they are rich, they are busy, they push lawsuits, they are happy, they are friends.
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Does it seem that everything is extravagance in the world, or rather madness, when you watch the way things go? A crowd of rogues enjoy blessings they have won by sheer injustice, while more honest folks are miserable and die of hunger.
ARISTOPHANES