Quotes from Pindar

Sweet is war to those who know it not.

To be envied is a nobler fate than to be pitied.

To our own sorrows serious heed we give, But for another?s we soon cease to grieve.

Very distasteful is excessive fame To the sour palate of the envious mind, Who hears with grief his neighbours good by name, And hates the fortune that he ne?er shall find.

O my soul, do not aspire to immortal life, but exhaust the limits of the possible.

Every gift which is given, even though is be small, is in reality great, if it is given with affection.

My soul, do not seek eternal life, but exhaust the realm of the possible.

Learn what you are and be such.

War is sweet to those who have no experience of it. But the experienced man trembles exceedingly in his heart at its approach.

Become such as you are, having learned what that is.

Become what you are.

Steer your boat with justice: forge A tongue on truth's anvil.

Creatures of a day, what is any one? What is he not? Man is but a dream of a shadow. Yet when there comes as a gift of heaven a gleam of sunshine, there rest upon men a radiant light and, aye, a gentle life.

Creatures of a day. What is someone? What is no one? Man is the dream of a shadow.

Custom is the lord of everything, of mortals and immortals king. High violence it justifies, with hand uplifted plundering.

The stars and the rivers and waves call you back.

But in one short span of time winds quickly shift direction,   veering back and forth.

Creatures of a day! What is man?

The race of gods and men is one, and from one mother we both draw our breath. Yet all the difference in our power holds us apart, so that man is nothing, but the brazen floor of heaven is eternally unshakable.

There are indeed many wonders, and with regard to the stories people tell one another, it may be that such tales go beyond the true account and, embellished with iridescent lies, beguile them.

If a man is born for success, another may with a god's help 20 sharpen his edge and drive him towards prodigious feats of glory;   and without exertion few have won joy,   which is a radiance in men's lives beyond all deeds.

God has in his power to make dazzling unmixed light spring from the somber depths of evening. He can also enclose the white explosion of day under the gloom of black clouds.

Blessed is the person who has passed the teachings of secrets. That person knows the source of life as well as his goal.

I am convinced that there is no host in the world today who is both knowledgeable about fine things and more sovereign in power, whom we shall adorn with the glorious folds of song.