Frases de Teógnis Mégara

“A saciedade gera insolência, quando a prosperidade toma por companhia
um homem malvado e que não tenha a mente sã.”

Fonte: "Elegias"

“Os deuses não concedem facilmente nem coisas excelentes
nem belas; mas há glória para a empresa difícil.”

“Coloca o povo de cabeça vazia sob os pés,
fere-o com o aguilhão pontiagudo e joga-lhe jugo pesado;
pois não encontrarás, sob os olhos do sol,
uma massa de homens tão desejosos de um senhor.”

“As trevas escondem o acontecimento futuro.”

“As riquezas, qualquer nume as pode conceder até mesmo a um malvado,
ó Quirno, mas a poucos homens cabe a virtude.”

“Difícil é reconhecer de longe
a índole de muitos, por mais que sejamos sábios:
de fato, alguns escondem sob a riqueza a sua maldade,
outros, sob a miserável pobreza, escondem a sua virtude.”

“Adopt the character of the twisting octopus, which takes on the appearance of the nearby rock.”

Variante: Difícil é reconhecer de longe
a índole de muitos, por mais que sejamos sábios:
de facto, alguns escondem sob a riqueza a sua maldade,
outros, sob a miserável pobreza, escondem a sua virtude.

Teógnis Mégara: Frases em inglês

“One finds many companions for food and drink, but in a serious business a man's companions are few.”

Fonte: Elegies, Line 215.
Contexto: Adopt the character of the twisting octopus, which takes on the appearance of the nearby rock. Now follow in this direction, now turn a different hue.

“Ploutos, no wonder mortals worship you:
You are so tolerant of their sins!”

Fonte: Elegies, Line 115.

“The best of all things for earthly men is not to be born and not to see the beams of the bright sun; but if born, then as quickly as possible to pass the gates of Hades, and to lie deep buried.”

Fonte: Elegies, Lines 523-524, as translated by Dorothea Wender.

“Don’t wag the tail of life if it goes well,
But leave in undisturbed. If it should go
Badly, rock it until it straightens up.”

Fonte: Elegies, Lines 425-428.

“Unless the gods deceive my mind,
That man is forging fetters for himself.”

Fonte: Elegies, Lines 303-305, as translated by Dorothea Wender.

“Wine is wont to show the mind of man.”

Fonte: Elegies, Lines 539-540, as translated by Dorothea Wender.

“Too many tongues have gates which fly apart
Too easily, and care for many things
That don’t concern them.”

Fonte: Elegies, Line 500.

“Surfeit begets insolence, when prosperity comes to a bad man.”

Fonte: Elegies, Lines 421-423, as translated by Dorothea Wender.

“Bright youth passes swiftly as a thought.”

Fonte: Elegies, Line 153.

“The deckhands are in control, and the base have the upper hand over the noble.”

Fonte: Elegies, Line 985.

“Even to a wicked man a divinity gives wealth, Cyrus, but to few men comes the gift of excellence.”

Fonte: Elegies, Line 667

“No man takes with him to Hades all his exceeding wealth.”

Fonte: Elegies, Line 149-150

“The lucky man is honored …
But earnest striving wins no praise at all.”

Fonte: Elegies, Line 725, comparable to: "For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away, his glory shall not descend after him", Psalm xlix, 17.

“We struggle onward, ignorant and blind,
For a result unknown and undesign’d;
Avoiding seeming ills, misunderstood,
Embracing evil as a seeming good.”

Fonte: Elegies, Lines 169-170, as translated by Dorothea Wender.

“Many bad men are rich, many good men are poor. But we will not exchange wealth for virtue along with them. One man has money now, another has money at another time. Money goes around, whereas virtue endures.”

Fonte: Elegies, Lines 137-139, as translated by J. Banks, The Works of Hesiod, Callimachus, and Theognis (1856), p. 464 http://books.google.com/books?id=QqFaP-4DExEC&pg=PA464