Explore popular quotes and sayings by a Greek poet Simonides of Ceos.
Last updated on November 15, 2024.
Simonides of Ceos was a Greek lyric poet, born at Ioulis on Ceos. The scholars of Hellenistic Alexandria included him in the canonical list of the nine lyric poets esteemed by them as worthy of critical study. Included on this list was Bacchylides, his nephew, and Pindar, reputedly a bitter rival, both of whom benefited from his innovative approach to lyric poetry. Simonides, however, was more involved than either in the major events and with the personalities of their times.
Man's strength is but little, and futile his concerns.
A man cannot possess anything that is better than a good wife, or anything that is worse than a bad one.
Of earth's goods, the best is a good wife; a bad, the bitterest curse of human life.
If to die honorably is the greatest Part of virtue, for us fate's done her best. Because we fought to crown Greece with freedom We lie here enjoying timeless fame.
Not even the gods fight against necessity.
Difficult, say you? Difficult to be a man of virtue, truly good, shaped and fashioned without flaw in the perfect figure of four-squared excellence, in body and mind, in act and thought?
The gods do not fight against necessity.
A man gains no possession better than a good woman, nothing more horrible than a bad one.
There is no better test of a man's work than time, which also reveals the thoughts which lay hidden in his breast.
What is life without the joy of Love?
There's no joy even in beautiful Wisdom, unless one have holy Health.
We did not flinch but gave our lives to save Greece when her fate hung on a razor's edge.
It is hard to be truly excellent, four-square in hand and foot and mind, formed without blemish.