430s BC

Explore 34 quotes from the 430s BC

Happiness depends on being free, and freedom depends on being courageous.

Pericles

Quoted in Funeral Oration, by Thucydides

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Topic

Happiness Freedom Courage

Speaker

Pericles

Author

Thucydides

Source

Funeral Oration History of the Peloponnesian War

Genre

Historical literature

Language

Greek

Time

430 BC 430s BC 5th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Pericles. Quoted in The History of the Peloponnesian War. c. 431 BC, bk. 2.

Current Citation

Pericles. Quoted in The Peloponnesian War, translated by Martin Hammond. Oxford University Press, 2009, bk. 2.

We are lovers of beauty without extravagance, and lovers of wisdom without unmanliness. Wealth is to us is not mere material for vainglory but an opportunity for achievement; and poverty we think it no disgrace to acknowledge but a real degradation to make no effort to overcome.

Pericles

Quoted in Funeral Oration, by Thucydides

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Topic

Golden mean

Speaker

Pericles

Author

Thucydides

Source

Funeral Oration History of the Peloponnesian War

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech Historical literature

Language

Greek

Time

430 BC 430s BC 5th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Thucydides. The History of the Peloponnesian War. c. 431 BC, bk. 2.

Current Citation

Thucydides. The Peloponnesian War, translated by Martin Hammond. Oxford University Press, 2009, bk. 2.

If the Persians hide the sun, the battle will be in shade rather than sunlight.

Herodotus

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Topic

Battle of Thermopylae Courage War

Speaker

Dieneces of Sparta

Author

Herodotus

Source

Histories

Genre

Historical literature

Language

Greek

Time

430 BC 430s BC 5th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Herodotus. Ἱστορίαι [Histories]. c. 430 BC, bk. 7, sect. 226.

Current Citation

Herodotus. The Histories, translated by Robin Waterfield. Oxford University Press, 2008, bk. 7, sect. 226.

O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever.

David

1st Chronicles 16:34

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Topic

Gratitude to God Gratitude

Speaker

David

Source

1st Chronicles The Bible

Medium

Scripture

Genre

Religious literature

Statement Type

Orders and commands

Language

Hebrew

Time

430 BC 430s BC 5th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 3

Citation

The Holy Bible: The King James Version. 1611. (1st Chronicles 16:34).

The greatest griefs are those we cause ourselves.

Sophocles

Oedipus Rex

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Speaker

Second Messenger

Author

Sophocles

Source

Oedipus Rex

Medium

Play

Genre

Greek tragedy Tragedy (play)

Language

Greek

Time

430 BC 430s BC 5th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Sophocles. Oedipus Rex. c. 429 BC, Theatre of Dionysus, Athens, Greece.

Current Citation

Sophocles. "Oedipus Rex." The Oedipus Cycle: Oedipus Rex; Oedipus at Colonus; Antigone, translated by Dudley Fitts and Robert Fitzgerald. Mariner Books, 2002.

How dreadful knowledge of the truth can be
When there's no help in truth!

Sophocles

Oedipus Rex

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Topic

Truth hurts Truth Ignorance is bliss

Speaker

Teiresias

Author

Sophocles

Source

Oedipus Rex

Medium

Play

Genre

Greek tragedy Tragedy (play)

Language

Greek

Time

430 BC 430s BC 5th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Sophocles. Oedipus Rex. c. 429 BC, Theatre of Dionysus, Athens, Greece.

Current Citation

Sophocles. "Oedipus Rex." The Oedipus Cycle: Oedipus Rex; Oedipus at Colonus; Antigone, translated by Dudley Fitts and Robert Fitzgerald. Mariner Books, 2002.

The Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts.

David

1st Chronicles 28:9

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Topic

God and man Inner life

Speaker

David

Source

1st Chronicles The Bible

Medium

Scripture

Genre

Religious literature

Language

Hebrew

Time

430 BC 430s BC 5th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 3

Citation

The Holy Bible: The King James Version. 1611. (1st Chronicles 28:9).

The man who has planned badly, if fortune is on his side, may have had a stroke of luck; but his plan was a bad one nonetheless.

Herodotus

Histories

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Topic

Bad decisions Good luck Fortune

Speaker

Artabanos

Author

Herodotus

Source

Histories

Genre

Historical literature

Language

Greek

Time

430 BC 430s BC 5th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Herodotus. Ἱστορίαι [Histories]. c. 430 BC, bk. 7, sect. 10.

Current Citation

Herodotus. The Histories, translated by Robin Waterfield. Oxford University Press, 2008, bk. 7, sect. 10.

Leave no stone unturned.

Euripides

Children of Hercules

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Topic

Taking care Thoroughness

Speaker

Eurystheus

Author

Euripides

Source

Children of Hercules

Medium

Play

Genre

Greek tragedy Tragedy (play)

Statement Type

Proverbs, aphorisms and adages

Language

Greek

Time

430 BC 430s BC 5th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Euripides. Herakles' Children [Children of Heracles]. c. 430 BC, Athens, Greece.

Current Citation

Euripides. "The Children of Hercules." Euripides I: Alcestis; Medea; The Children of Heracles; Hippolytus, edited and translated by Mark Griffith, Glenn W. Most, David Grene, and Richmond Lattimore. University of Chicago Press, 2013.

The most hateful torment for men is to have knowledge of everything but power over nothing.

Herodotus

Histories

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Topic

Knowledge Powerlessness Power

Author

Herodotus

Source

Histories

Genre

Historical literature

Language

Greek

Time

430 BC 430s BC 5th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Herodotus. Ἱστορίαι [Histories]. c. 430 BC, bk. 9. sect. 16.

Current Citation

Herodotus. The Histories, translated by Robin Waterfield. Oxford University Press, 2008, bk. 9, sect. 16.

No one is stupid enough to prefer war to peace; in peace sons bury their fathers and in war fathers bury their sons. However, I suppose the god must have wanted this to happen.

Herodotus

Histories

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Topic

War and peace War Peace

Speaker

Croesus

Author

Herodotus

Source

Histories

Genre

Historical literature

Language

Greek

Time

430 BC 430s BC 5th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Herodotus. Ἱστορίαι [Histories]. c. 430 BC, bk. 1, sect. 87.

Current Citation

Herodotus. The Histories, translated by Robin Waterfield. Oxford University Press, 2008, bk. 1, sect. 87.

Not snow, no, nor rain, nor heat, nor night keeps them from accomplishing their appointed courses with all speed.

Herodotus

Histories

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Topic

Overcoming obstacles

Author

Herodotus

Source

Histories

Genre

Historical literature

Language

Greek

Time

430 BC 430s BC 5th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Herodotus. Ἱστορίαι [Histories]. c. 430 BC, bk. 8, ch. 98.

Current Citation

Herodotus. The Histories, translated by Robin Waterfield. Oxford University Press, 2008, bk. 8, ch. 98.

Our love of what is beautiful does not lead to extravagance; our love of the things of the mind does not make us soft.

Pericles

Quoted in Funeral Oration, by Thucydides

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Topic

Athens

Speaker

Pericles

Author

Thucydides

Source

Funeral Oration History of the Peloponnesian War

Genre

Historical literature

Language

Greek

Time

430 BC 430s BC 5th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Pericles. Quoted in The History of the Peloponnesian War. c. 431 BC, bk. 2.

Current Citation

Pericles. Quoted in The Peloponnesian War, translated by Martin Hammond. Oxford University Press, 2009, bk. 2.

The tyrant is a child of Pride
Who drinks from his great sickening cup
Recklessness and vanity,
Until from his high crest headlong
He plummets to the dust of hope.

Sophocles

Oedipus Rex

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Topic

Tyrants

Speaker

Chorus

Author

Sophocles

Source

Oedipus Rex

Medium

Play

Genre

Greek tragedy Tragedy (play)

Language

Greek

Time

430 BC 430s BC 5th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Sophocles. Oedipus Rex. c. 429 BC, Theatre of Dionysus, Athens, Greece.

Current Citation

Sophocles. "Oedipus Rex." The Oedipus Cycle: Oedipus Rex; Oedipus at Colonus; Antigone, translated by Dudley Fitts and Robert Fitzgerald. Mariner Books, 2002.

Your great glory is not to be inferior to what God has made you, and the greatest glory of a woman is to be least talked about by men, whether they are praising you or criticizing you.

Pericles

Quoted in Funeral Oration, by Thucydides

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Topic

Patriarchy Oppression of women

Speaker

Pericles

Author

Thucydides

Source

Funeral Oration History of the Peloponnesian War

Genre

Historical literature

Language

Greek

Time

430 BC 430s BC 5th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Pericles. Quoted in The History of the Peloponnesian War. c. 431 BC, bk. 2.

Current Citation

Pericles. Quoted in The Peloponnesian War, translated by Martin Hammond. Oxford University Press, 2009, bk. 2.

If one were to order all mankind to choose the best set of rules in the world, each group would, after due consideration, choose its own customs; each group regards its own as being by far the best.

Herodotus

Histories

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Topic

Ethnocentrism Human nature

Author

Herodotus

Source

Histories

Genre

Historical literature

Language

Greek

Time

430 BC 430s BC 5th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Herodotus. Ἱστορίαι [Histories]. c. 430 BC, bk. 3, sect. 38.

Current Citation

Herodotus. The Histories, translated by Robin Waterfield. Oxford University Press, 2008, bk. 3, sect. 38.

But the bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them, glory and danger alike, and yet notwithstanding go out to meet it.

Pericles

Quoted in Funeral Oration, by Thucydides

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Topic

Bravery Courage Taking risks Going for it

Speaker

Pericles

Author

Thucydides

Source

Funeral Oration History of the Peloponnesian War

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech Historical literature

Language

Greek

Time

430 BC 430s BC 5th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Thucydides. The History of the Peloponnesian War. c. 431 BC, bk. 2.

Current Citation

Thucydides. The Peloponnesian War, translated by Martin Hammond. Oxford University Press, 2009, bk. 2.

Our constitution is named a democracy, because it is in the hands not of the few but of the many. But our laws secure equal justice for all in their private disputes, and our public opinion welcomes and honors talent in every branch of achievement, not for any sectional reason but on grounds of excellence alone. And as we give free play to all in our public life, so we care the same spirit into our daily relations with one another... Open and friendly in our private intercourse, in our public acts we keep strictly within the control of law. We acknowledge the restraint of authority, and to the laws, more especially to those which offer protection to the oppressed and those unwritten ordinances whose transgression brings admitted shame.

Pericles

Quoted in Funeral Oration, by Thucydides

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Topic

Democracy Rule of law

Speaker

Pericles

Author

Thucydides

Source

Funeral Oration History of the Peloponnesian War

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech Historical literature

Language

Greek

Time

430 BC 430s BC 5th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Thucydides. The History of the Peloponnesian War. c. 431 BC, bk. 2.

Current Citation

Thucydides. The Peloponnesian War, translated by Martin Hammond. Oxford University Press, 2009, bk. 2.

Fix your eyes on the greatness of Athens as you have it before you day by day, fall in love with her, and when you feel her great, remember that this greatness was won by men with courage, with knowledge of their duty, and with a sense of honor in action... So they gave their bodies to the commonwealth and received each for his own memory, praise that will never die, and with it the grandest of all memorials, not that in which their mortal bones are laid, but a home in the minds of men, where their glory remains fresh to stir to speech or action as the occasion comes fresh to stir to speech or action as the occasion comes by. For the whole earth is the memorial of famous men; and their story is not graven only on stone over their native earth, but lives on far away, without visible symbol, woven into the stuff of other men's lives.

Pericles

Quoted in Funeral Oration, by Thucydides

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Topic

Great men Heroes Dying for one's country

Speaker

Pericles

Author

Thucydides

Source

Funeral Oration History of the Peloponnesian War

Medium

Speech

Genre

Political speech Historical literature

Language

Greek

Time

430 BC 430s BC 5th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Thucydides. The History of the Peloponnesian War. c. 431 BC, bk. 2.

Current Citation

Thucydides. The Peloponnesian War, translated by Martin Hammond. Oxford University Press, 2009, bk. 2.

It is not possible with mortal mind to search out the purposes of the gods.

Pindar

More information about this quote

Topic

Inscrutability of God God's plan

Author

Pindar

Language

Greek

Time

438 BC 430s BC 5th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Pindar. Fragment 61. c. 418 BC.