Famous lines
Famous lines from Plato, Homer, Seneca and others in the original Greek and Latin with an English translation — each one a doorway into the passage it comes from.
Plato
- “The unexamined life is not worth living for a human being.”
ὁ δὲ ἀνεξέταστος βίος οὐ βιωτὸς ἀνθρώπῳ.
Apology 38a
- “Wondering is very much the feeling of a philosopher; there is no other beginning of philosophy than this.”
μάλα γὰρ φιλοσόφου τοῦτο τὸ πάθος, τὸ θαυμάζειν· οὐ γὰρ ἄλλη ἀρχὴ φιλοσοφίας ἢ αὕτη.
Theaetetus 155d
- “Unless philosophers rule as kings in the cities …”
ἐὰν μὴ … οἱ φιλόσοφοι βασιλεύσωσιν ἐν ταῖς πόλεσιν …
Republic 473d
- “Those who philosophize rightly practice dying.”
οἱ ὀρθῶς φιλοσοφοῦντες ἀποθνῄσκειν μελετῶσι.
Phaedo 67e
- “All soul is immortal.”
ψυχὴ πᾶσα ἀθάνατος.
Phaedrus 245c
Homer
- “Sing, goddess, the anger of Peleus' son Achilles.”
μῆνιν ἄειδε θεὰ Πηληϊάδεω Ἀχιλῆος.
Iliad 1.1
- “Tell me, Muse, of the man of many devices.”
ἄνδρα μοι ἔννεπε, Μοῦσα, πολύτροπον.
Odyssey 1.1
Virgil
- “Arms and the man I sing, who first from the shores of Troy.”
Arma virumque cano, Troiae qui primus ab oris.
Aeneid 1.1
- “Love conquers all things; let us too yield to Love.”
Omnia vincit Amor; et nos cedamus Amori.
Eclogues 10.69
Aristotle
- “All men by nature desire to know.”
πάντες ἄνθρωποι τοῦ εἰδέναι ὀρέγονται φύσει.
Metaphysics 980a
- “Every art and inquiry, and likewise every action and pursuit, is thought to aim at some good.”
πᾶσα τέχνη καὶ πᾶσα μέθοδος, ὁμοίως δὲ πρᾶξίς τε καὶ προαίρεσις, ἀγαθοῦ τινὸς ἐφίεσθαι δοκεῖ.
Nicomachean Ethics 1094a
- “The human being is by nature a political animal.”
ὁ ἄνθρωπος φύσει πολιτικὸν ζῷον.
Politics 1253a
- “Tragedy is an imitation of an action that is serious and complete … through pity and fear effecting the catharsis of such emotions.”
ἔστιν οὖν τραγῳδία μίμησις πράξεως σπουδαίας καὶ τελείας … δι’ ἐλέου καὶ φόβου περαίνουσα τὴν τῶν τοιούτων παθημάτων κάθαρσιν.
Poetics 1449b
- “Rhetoric is the counterpart of dialectic.”
ἡ ῥητορική ἐστιν ἀντίστροφος τῇ διαλεκτικῇ.
Rhetoric 1354a
Sophocles
- “Many are the wonders, and nothing is more wonderful than man.”
πολλὰ τὰ δεινὰ κοὐδὲν ἀνθρώπου δεινότερον πέλει.
Antigone 332
- “Being mortal, keep your eyes on that last day, and call no one happy.”
θνητὸν ὄντα … τὴν τελευταίαν ἰδεῖν ἡμέραν ἐπισκοποῦντα μηδέν’ ὀλβίζειν.
Oedipus Rex 1528
Julius Caesar
- “Gaul is a whole divided into three parts.”
Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres.
The Gallic War 1.1
Herodotus
- “This is the presentation of the inquiry of Herodotus of Halicarnassus.”
Ἡροδότου Ἁλικαρνησσέος ἱστορίης ἀπόδεξις ἥδε.
The Histories 1.1
Pindar
- “Water is best.”
ἄριστον μὲν ὕδωρ.
Olympian Odes 1.1
Euripides
- “My passion is stronger than my plans.”
θυμὸς δὲ κρείσσων τῶν ἐμῶν βουλευμάτων.
Medea 1079
- “My tongue has sworn, but my mind is unsworn.”
ἡ γλῶσσ’ ὀμώμοχ’, ἡ δὲ φρὴν ἀνώμοτος.
Hippolytus 612
Thucydides
- “Thucydides, an Athenian, wrote the history of the war between the Peloponnesians and the Athenians.”
Θουκυδίδης Ἀθηναῖος ξυνέγραψε τὸν πόλεμον τῶν Πελοποννησίων καὶ Ἀθηναίων.
History of the Peloponnesian War 1.1
Ovid
- “Every lover is a soldier, and Cupid has his own camp.”
Militat omnis amans, et habet sua castra Cupido.
The Loves 1.9.1
Aeschylus
- “Learning through suffering.”
πάθει μάθος.
Agamemnon 177
- “Art is far weaker than necessity.”
τέχνη δ’ ἀνάγκης ἀσθενεστέρα μακρῷ.
Prometheus Bound 514
Hesiod
- “Before virtue the gods have set sweat.”
τῆς δ’ ἀρετῆς ἱδρῶτα θεοὶ προπάροιθεν ἔθηκαν.
Works and Days 289
- “From the Heliconian Muses let us begin to sing.”
Μουσάων Ἑλικωνιάδων ἀρχώμεθ’ ἀείδειν.
Theogony 1
Horace
- “Poetry is like a picture.”
Ut pictura poesis.
The Art of Poetry 361
- “He who has begun has half the deed done; dare to be wise.”
Dimidium facti, qui coepit, habet: sapere aude.
Epistles 1.2.40
Seneca the Younger
- “There is no easy road from the earth to the stars.”
Non est ad astra mollis e terris via.
Hercules 437
Translations are AI-generated drafts, revised through reader feedback. The originals follow the source edition shown on each work page.