Menander Quotes

He who labors diligently need never despair.

He who labors diligently need never despair for all things are accomplished by diligence and labor.

No just person ever became quickly rich.

There are many wild beasts on land and in the sea, but the beastliest of all is woman.

If you want to live your whole life free from pain you must become either a god or else a corpse. Consider other men's troubles and that will comfort you.

The school of hard knocks is an accelerated curriculum.

Let bravery be thy choice, but not bravado.

Being mortal, never pray for an untroubled life. Rather, ask the God to give you an enduring heart.

Nothing is more useful than silence.

Everything is destroyed by its own particular vice: the destructive power resides within. Rust destroys iron, moths destroy clothes, the worm eats away the wood; but greatest of all evils is envy, impious habitant of corrupt souls, which ever was, is, and shall be a consuming disease.

The character of a man is known from his conversations.

The chief beginning of evil is goodness in excess.

By associating with wise people you will become wise yourself.

In many things it is not well to say, "Know thyself"; it is better to say, "Know others."

Marriage, if one will face the truth, is an evil, but a necessary evil.

I call a fig a fig, a spade a spade.

There is but one genuine love potion - consideration.

Nothing has happened to you unless you make much of it.

There is no such cozy combination as man and wife.

Rest assured, for every piece of business the most businesslike thing is to choose the right moment.

The good man makes others good.

It is as easy to draw back a stone thrown with force from the hand, as to recall a word once spoken.

To live is not to live for one's self; let us help one another.

How sweet is life, can we but choose with whom to live it: to live for oneself is no life.

Do not fight against Providence; nor bring more heavy weather to the storm. Face what is already there.

Hope saves a person in the midst of misfortunes.

Fortune is no real thing. But men who cannot bear what comes to them In Nature's way, give their own characters The name of Fortune.

It must be that evil communications corrupt good dispositions.

The workman still is greater than his work.

Art is man's refuge from adversity.

At times discretion should be thrown aside, and with the foolish we should play the fool.

A man that runs away may fight again.

Of all the wild beasts of land or sea, the wildest is woman.

Whom the gods love dies young.

We live, not as we wish to, but as we can.

Never ask the Gods for life set free from grief, but ask for courage that endureth long.

All men have one refuge, a good friend, with whom you can weep and know that he does not smile.

It is not hoary hairs that bring wisdom; some have an old head on young shoulders.

Chance is a kind of god, for it preserves many things which we do not observe.

Sleep is a healing balm for every ill.

Silence is often advantageous.

Know thyself means this, that you get acquainted with what you know, and what you can do.

No man alive can say, This shall not happen to me.

The truth sometimes not sought for comes forth to the light.

It is not white hair that engenders wisdom.

Conscience is a God to all mortals.

Man must be prepared for every event of life, for there is nothing that is durable.

Why should he who is scared be careful?

Of all wild beasts on earth or in sea, the greatest is a woman.