Born into a wealthy and aristocratic family in the city of Eleusis, near Athens, Aeschylus began his career as a young man by participating in the competitions of the Dionysia, a festival of drama and revelry in honor of the god Dionysus.
Aeschylus wrote approximately 80 plays during his lifetime, but only seven have survived intact: “The Persians,” “Seven Against Thebes,” “Suppliants,” “Oresteia,” “Agamemnon,” “Choephoroe,” and “Eumenides.” His plays were noted for their grandeur and their exploration of the human condition, as well as their emphasis on moral and ethical themes. In addition to his contributions to drama, Aeschylus was also a veteran of the Persian Wars, having fought in the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC and possibly at the Battle of Salamis in 480 BC. His experiences during these conflicts undoubtedly informed his writing, as many of his plays deal with themes of war and its aftermath.
Aeschylus was a highly respected figure in ancient Greece, and was often called the “father of tragedy” by later writers. He was awarded numerous prizes for his plays, and was said to have been honored by the Athenian government with a statue in his likeness. Despite his fame and success, however, Aeschylus was known to be a somewhat reclusive and mysterious figure, and little is known about his personal life. Aeschylus died in 455/456 BC, reportedly struck by a falling tortoise dropped by an eagle, according to legend. His influence on the development of Greek tragedy was immense, and his works continue to be studied and performed to this day.
Here, we have curated some of the most popular quotes of Aeschylus Quotes Showing Struggle Between Human Being And God
Aeschylus Blue Bloods Quotes
1. “Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God.”
2. “Happiness is a choice that requires effort at times.”
3. ” It is in the character of very few men to honor without envy a friend who has prospered. ”
4. “Tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world.”
5. ” For somehow this is tyranny’s disease, to trust no friends.”
6. “There is advantage in the wisdom won from pain.”
7. “To learn is to be young, however old.”
8. “Time, as it grows old, teaches all things.”
9. “In war, the first casualty is truth.”
10. “Memory is the mother of all wisdom.”
11. “Wisdom comes through suffering. Trouble, with its memories of pain, Drips in our hearts as we try to sleep, So men against their will Learn to practice moderation. Favours come to us from gods.”
12. “My will is mine…I shall not make it soft for you.”
13. “Nothing forces us to know What we do not want to know Except pain”
14. “For it would be better to die once and for all than to suffer pain for all one’s life.”
15. “It is a profitable thing, if one is wise, to seem foolish.”
16. “There is advantage in the wisdom won from pain.”
17. “They sent forth men to battle, But no such men return; And home, to claim their welcome, Come ashes in an urn”
18. “There is no pain so great as the memory of joy in present grief.”
19. “Suffering brings experience.”
20. “I gave them hope, and so turned away their eyes from death”
Aeschylus Death Quotes
21. “He who learns must suffer. And even in our sleep pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, and in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God.”
22. “For somehow this is tyranny’s disease, to trust no friends.”
23. “For there is no defense for a man who, in the excess of his wealth, has kicked the great altar of Justice out of sight.”
24. “Obedience is the mother of success and is wedded to safety.”
25. “Better to die on your feet than live on your knees.”
26. “My will is mine… I shall not make it soft for you.”
27. “They sent forth men to battle, but no such men return; and home, to claim their welcome, come ashes in an urn.”
28. “There are times when fear is good. It must keep its watchful place at the heart’s controls.”
29. “Search well and be wise, nor believe that self-willed pride will ever be better than good counsel.”
30. “Nothing forces us to know what we do not want to know. Except pain. And this is how the gods declare their love.”
31. “It is best for the wise man not to seem wise.”
32. “You shall learn, though late, the lesson of how to be discreet.”
33. “Courage! Suffering, when it climbs highest, lasts not long.”
34. “Simple is the speech of truth.”
35. “It’s not the oath that makes us believe the man, but the man the oath.”
36. “Wrong must not win by technicalities.”
37. “Unjustly men hate death, which is the greatest defence against their many ills.”
38. “For it would be better to die once and for all than to suffer pain for all one’s life.”
39. “I gave them hope, and so turned away their eyes from death.”
40.”And one who is just of his own free will shall not lack for happiness; and he will never come to utter ruin.”
Aeschylus Rfk Quotes
41. “Zeus, first cause, prime mover; for what thing without Zeus is done among mortals? ”
42. “There is no avoidance in delay”
43. “Call no man happy till he is dead.”
44. “I know how men in exile feed on dreams.”
45. “Rumours voiced by women come to nothing.”
46. “The reward of suffering is experience.”
47. “Words are doctors for the diseased temper.”
48. “It is easy when we are in prosperity to give advice to the afflicted.”
49. “Only through suffering do we learn.”
50. “Unanimous hatred is the greatest medicine for a human community”
51. “In visions of the night, like dropping rain, descend the many memories of pain.”
52. “Ah me, thou Destiny, Giver of evil gifts.”
53. “When the black and mortal blood of man has fallen to the ground … who then can sing spells to call it back again?”
54. “I would far rather be ignorant than knowledgeable of evil.”
55. “In every tyrant’s heart there springs in the end this poison, that he cannot trust a friend.”
56. “Words are the physicians of a mind diseased.”
57. “But still the block of Vengeance firm doth stand, and Fate, as swordsmith, hammers blow on blow.”
58. “The truth has to be melted out of our stubborn lives by suffering. Nothing speaks the truth, nothing tells us how things really are, nothing forces us to know what we do not want to know except pain. And this is how the gods declare their love.”
59. “Alas, poor men, their destiny. When all goes well a shadow will overthrow it. If it be unkind one stroke of a wet sponge wipes all the picture out.”
60. “Take courage; pain’s extremity soon ends.”
Aeschylus Wisdom Quote
61. “Willingly no one chooses the yoke of slavery.”
62. “From a small seed a mighty trunk may grow.”
63. “I have learned to hate all traitors, and there is no disease that I spit on more than treachery.”
64. “Who apart from the gods is without pain for his whole lifetime’s length?”
65. “Destiny waits alike for the free man as well as for him enslaved by another’s might.”
66. “Be it mine to draw from wisdom’s fount, pure as it flows, that calm of soul which virtue only knows.”
67. “Since long I’ve held silence a remedy for harm.”
68. “God’s mouth knows not how to speak falsehood, but he brings to pass every word.”
69. ”Pride has always gone before a fall.”
70. ”God always strives together with those who strive.”
71. “Obedience is the mother of success, and success the parent of salvation.”
72. ” There is no sickness worse for me than words that to be kind must lie.”
73. “We spoil ourselves with scruples long as things go well.”
74. “It is always in season for old men to learn.”
75. “Neither the life of anarchy nor the life enslaved by tyrants, no, worship neither. Strike the balance all in all and god will give you power.”
76. ” For many among men are they who set high the show of honor, yet break justice. ”
77. “We should know what is true before we break our rage.”
78. “Learning comes through pain.”
79. ” When a man’s willing and eager the god’s join in. ”
80. ” For obstinacy standing alone is the weakest of all things in one whose mind is not possessed by wisdom.”
Aeschylus Memory Quotes
81. “There is no avoidance in delay.”
82.“I know how men in exile feed on dreams”
83. “She looked just like a painting dying to speak.”
84. “His resolve is not to seem, but to be, the best.”
85. “PROMETHEUS: ‘Oh, it is easy for the one who stands outside the prison-wall of pain to exhort and teach the one who suffers”
86.“Unanimous hatred is the greatest medicine for a human community.”
87. “Only through suffering do we learn”
88. “ATHENA: You wish to be called righteous rather than act right. […] I say, wrong must not win by technicalities.”
89. “In our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God.”
90. “When one is wise, it’s wisest to seem foolish.”
91. “God loves to help him who strives to help himself.”
92. “Death is easier than a wretched life; and better never to have born than to live and fare badly.”
93. “When the black and mortal blood of man has fallen to the ground… who then can sing spells to call it back again?”
94. “The man whose authority is recent is always stern.”
95. “God’s most lordly gift to man is decency of mind.”
96. “Time brings all things to pass.”
97. “Wiles and deceit are female qualities.”
98. “Whoever is just willingly and without compulsion will not lack happiness; he will never be utterly destroyed.”
99. “The cure is in the house, not brought by other hands from distant places, but by its own, in agony and blood.”
100. “There is no disease I spit on more than treachery.