Aristophanes
[Y]ou [man] are fool enough, it seems, to dare to war with [woman=] me, when for your faithful ally you might win me easily.Collection: War
Shall I crack any of those old jokes, master, At which the audience never fail to laugh?Collection: Laughter
Have you ever, looking up, seen a cloud like to a Centaur, a Part, or a Wolf, or a Bull?Collection: Clouds
I would treat her like an egg, the shell of which we remove before eating it; I would take off her mask and then kiss her pretty face.Collection: Kissing
This is what extremely grieves us, that a man who never fought Should contrive our fees to pilfer, on who for his native land Never to this day had oar, or lance, or blister in his hand.Collection: Men
One must not try to trick misfortune, but resign oneself to it with good grace.Collection: Adversity
Even if you persuade me, you won’t persuade me.Collection: Ifs
It often happens that less depends upon the valor of an army than the skill of the leader.Collection: Leadership
Today things are better than yesterday.Collection: Yesterday
Does it seem that everything is extravagance in the world, or rather madness, when you watch the way things go? A crowd of rogues enjoy blessings they have won by sheer injustice, while more honest folks are miserable and die of hunger.Collection: Blessing
There is no beast, no rush of fire, like woman so untamed. She calmly goes her way where even panthers would be shamed.Collection: Women
Mix and knead together all the state business as you do for your sausages. To win the people, always cook them some savory that pleases them.Collection: Winning
There is no honest man! not one, that can resist the attraction of gold!Collection: Men
If you strike upon a thought that baffles you, break off from that entanglement and try another, so shall your wits be fresh to start again.Collection: Thinking
Woman is adept at getting money for herself and will not easily let herself be deceived; she understands deceit too well herself.Collection: Deceit
Calonice: My dear Lysistrata, just what is this matter you've summoned us women to consider.What's up? Something big? Lysistrata: Very big. Calonice: (interested) Is it stout too? Lysistrata: (smiling) Yes, indeed -- both big and stout. Calonice: What? And the women still haven't come? Lysistrata: It's not what you suppose; they'd come soon enough for that.Collection: Soon Enough
The love of wine is a good man's failing.Collection: Wine
Tis not for us to warn a wilful sinner; We stay him not, but let him run his course, Till by misfortunes rous'd, his conscience wakes, And prompts him to appease th' offended gods.Collection: Running
Do you dare to accuse wine of clouding the reason? Quote me more marvelous effects than those of wine. Look! when a man drinks, he is rich, everything he touches succeeds, he gains lawsuits, is happy and helps his friends. Come, bring hither quick a flagon of wine, that I may soak my brain and get an ingenious idea.Collection: Wine
It is bad taste for a poet to be coarse and hairy.Collection: Taste
To invoke solely the weaker arguments and yet triumph is an art worth more than a hundred thousand drachmae.Collection: Art
How can I study from below, that which is above?Collection: Study
There's no art where there's no fee.Collection: Art
To win the people, always cook them some savoury that pleases them.Collection: Winning
What unlooked-for things do happen, to be sure, in a long life!Collection: Life
When men drink wine they are rich, they are busy, they push lawsuits, they are happy, they are friends.Collection: Wine
If I get clear of my debts, I care not though men call me bold, glib of tongue, audacious, impudent, shameless, a fabricator of falsehoods, inventor of words, practised in lawsuits, a pettifogger, a rattle, a fox, a sharper, a knave, a dissembler, a slippery fellow, an imposter, a rogue that deserves the cat-o-nine-tails, a blackguard, a twister, a licker-up of hashes; they call all this when they meet me, if they please, I care not.Collection: Cat
A fox is subtlety itself.Collection: Foxes
Do not bandy words with your father, nor treat him as a dotard, nor reproach the old man, who has cherished you, with his age.Collection: Father
Old age is second childhood.Collection: Childhood
Prayers without wine are perfectly pointless.Collection: Prayer
Thou shouldst not decide until thou hast heard what both have to say.Collection: Justice
Wealth--the most excellent of all gods.Collection: Wealth
When the soldier returns from the wars, even though he has white hair, he very soon finds a young wife. But a woman has only one summer; if she does not make hay while the sun shines, no one will afterwards have anything to say to her, and she spends her days consulting oracles that never send her a husband.Collection: Summer
Hunger knows no friend but its feeder.Collection: No Friends
An insult directed at the wicked is not to be censured; on the contrary, the honest man, if he has sense, can only applaud.Collection: Men
Open your mouth and shut your eyes and see what Zeus will send you.Collection: Eye
The truth is forced upon us, very quickly, by a foe.Collection: Truth Is
A man's homeland is wherever he prospers.Collection: Men
Poverty, the most fearful monster that ever drew breath.Collection: Monsters
The gods, my dear simple fellow, are a mere expression coined by vulgar superstition. We frown upon such coinage here.Collection: God
You're mistaken; men of sense often learn much from their enemies. Prudence is the best safeguard. This principle cannot be learnt from a friend: but an enemy extorts it immediately. It is from their foes and not their friends, that cities learn the lesson of building high walls and ships of war. And this lesson saves their children, their homes, and their properties.Collection: Wall
[Y]ou possess all the attributes of a demagogue; a screeching, horrible voice, a perverse, crossgrained nature and the language of the market-place. In you all is united which is needful for governing.Collection: Voice
When men drink, then they are rich and successful and win lawsuits and are happy and help their friends. Quickly, bring me a beaker of wine, so that I may wet my mind and say something clever.Collection: Friendship
Surely you do not believe in the gods. What's your argument? Where's your proof?Collection: Atheist
Comedy is allied to justice.Collection: Lying
Evil events from evil causes spring, And what you suffer flows from what you've done.Collection: Spring
An ancient tradition declares that every idiot blunder we pass into law will sooner or later redound to Athens' profit.Collection: Law
A man should be able to stand up under any disaster for his country's good.Collection: Country