Welcome to our curated collection of Greek quotes, where the wisdom of ancient Greece comes to life. From the philosophical musings of Socrates and Plato to the poetic verses of Homer and Sophocles, Greek literature and thought have left an indelible mark on human civilization. Whether you seek inspiration, introspection, or simply a deeper understanding of life’s complexities, the timeless words of these ancient thinkers offer profound insights that resonate across centuries.
Greek culture, renowned for its emphasis on intellect, virtue, and the pursuit of knowledge, has bequeathed to us a treasury of quotes that continue to captivate and inspire. These quotes delve into themes as diverse as love, courage, destiny, and the human condition, reflecting the depth of Greek thought and its enduring relevance in today’s world. As we delve into this rich tapestry of wisdom, prepare to be transported through the annals of history, where the voices of Greece’s most illustrious minds echo with timeless resonance.
Below, you will find a selection of Greek quotes spanning various topics and epochs. Whether you seek to adorn them on images, embellish them with stylish fonts, or simply ponder their significance, we invite you to explore and engage with these profound insights from the cradle of Western civilization.
In Greek mythology, the hero wants to be great, but the very concept does not exist in the Indian vocabulary. Yet it has become the global template. And it’s a template that won’t fit in India. Devdutt Pattanaik
The ordinary man looking at a mountain is like an illiterate person confronted with a Greek manuscript. Aleister Crowley
For many, the icon of the British Museum is the Rosetta Stone, that administrative by-product of the Greek imperial adventure in Africa. Neil MacGregor
Save for the wild force of Nature, nothing moves in this world that is not Greek in its origin. John Dalberg-Acton
Religion enabled society to organise itself to debate goodness, just as Greek drama had once done. Edward Bond
If you are an Arabic-speaking, Greek-Orthodox going to a French school it makes you deeply sceptical if you have to listen to three different accounts of the Crusades – one from the Muslim side, one from the Greek side and one from the Catholic side. Nassim Nicholas Taleb
I’ve been reading Greek mythology since I was a kid. I also taught it when I was a sixth grade teacher, so I knew a lot of mythological monsters already. Sometimes I still use books and Web sites to research, though. Every time I research Greek mythology, I learn something new! Rick Riordan
In Greek myth, a chimera is a creepy combination of lion, goat, dragon – in humans, chimeras are one person who contains two sets of DNA. That’s right. One person comes up in tests as two different people. Susannah Cahalan
I started to learn Greek when I was in high school, the last year of high school, by accident, because my teacher knew Greek and she offered to teach me on the lunch hour, so we did it in an informal way, and then I did it at university, and that was the main thing of my life. Anne Carson
Greece has got something like 1,400 islands. There is so much of Greece you can’t know even if you’re Greek. It’s sprinkled out all around the edge of the Aegean, all over the place. It’s already a secret place wherever you go, even if it’s somewhere huge like Athens or Corinth. The place enchanted me. Joanna Lumley
After finishing the gymnasium in Muenchen with 9 years of Latin and 6 years of ancient Greek, history and philosophy, I decided to become a physicist. The great theoretical physicist Arnold Sommerfeld, an university colleague of my late father, advised me to begin with an apprenticeship in precision mechanics. Wolfgang Paul
Chaos does not mean total disorder. Chaos means a multiplicity of possibilities. Chaos is from the ancient Greek words that means a thing that is birthed from the void. And it was about that which is possible, not about disorder. Jok Church
II know a little about Greek mythology. It’s not that far away from the Nordic mythology. Mads Mikkelsen
It was a Greek tragedy. Nixon was fulfilling his own nature. Once it started it could not end otherwise. Henry Kissinger
There was a Greek restaurant, the only place we could get Italian food. All of us Italians and many others from other parts of Europe used to go there, and Rajiv and his friends also. Some of his group knew some of my group, and we met just like that. Sonia Gandhi
I believe in American exceptionalism, just as I suspect that the Brits believe in British exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism. Barack Obama
There would be no need for love if perfection were possible. Love arises from our imperfection, from our being different and always in need of the forgiveness, encouragement and that missing half of ourselves that we are searching for, as the Greek myth tells us, in order to complete ourselves. Eugene Kennedy
One of the rules of Greek lament poetry is that it mustn’t mention the dead by name in case of invoking a ghost. Maybe the ‘Iliad,’ crowded with names, is more than a poem. Maybe it’s a dangerous piece of the brightness of both this world and the next. Alice Oswald
The capacity for people to kid themselves is huge. Living on illusions or delusions, and the re-establishing of these illusions or delusions requires a big effort to keep them from being seen through. But a very old idea is at work behind our current state of affairs: enantiodromia, or the Greek notion of things turning into their opposite. James Hillman
I thought I was attractive when I shot ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding.’ Studio executives and movie reviewers let me know I had a confidence in my looks that was not shared by them. In other words, they labeled me with words like overweight, unattractive, unappealing. Nia Vardalos
I think great humor lies in playing the truth of a situation. I see myself as a performer and that applies to a Greek drama or a modern comedy. Brendan Coyle
My father was Greek, but he turned French during the war, and my mother was French. So I’m French, but I have Greek blood. Agnes Varda
It is true that no member state can be required to make payments to others. But if countries want to offer voluntary assistance, as in the Greek case, this isn’t only allowed, but it’s also in Germany’s interest. We all benefit by ensuring the stability of the euro zone. Wolfgang Schauble
Nobody knows why we’re alive; so we all create stories based on our imagination of the world; and as a community, we believe in the same story. In India, every person believes his/ her own mythosphere to be real. Indian thought is obsessed with subjectivity; Greek thought with objectivity. Devdutt Pattanaik
Quality in a classical Greek sense is how to live with grace and intelligence, with bravery and mercy. Theodore White
At 20, I realized that I could not possibly adjust to a feminine role as conceived by my father and asked him permission to engage in a professional career. In eight months I filled my gaps in Latin, Greek and mathematics, graduated from high school, and entered medical school in Turin. Rita Levi-Montalcini
My wife is Greek. I was a non-denomination Christian before we got married. Troy Polamalu
I guess darkness serves a purpose: to show us that there is redemption through chaos. I believe in that. I think that’s the basis of Greek mythology. Brendan Fraser
Like Nemesis of Greek tragedy, the central problem of America after the Civil War, as before, was the black man: those four million souls whom the nation had used and degraded, and on whom the South had built an oligarchy similar to the colonial imperialism of today, erected on cheap colored labor and raising raw material for manufacture. W. E. B. Du Bois
My parents divorced. There was the usual awkward business of going between them, but I was mostly with my mother. She remarried to a Greek painter Nico Ghika, so we were always around artists and intellectuals. Jacob Rothschild
I want to play Lady Macbeth. I have a big chip on my shoulder about Lady Macbeth. People usually play her as this cold, Greek witch, but there’s no evidence of that in the text! I think her intentions are pure. Hari Nef
For a long time on Earth humans didn’t worship good gods; that’s a new idea. The ancient Greek gods, the Hindu gods, are fairly amoral, most of them. We get stuck when we insist that God be both good and all-powerful. Barbara Ehrenreich
I go back and research, say, every reference to the Gorgons, and I find what the classical writers said about them and it’s so much richer than you might get in an average Greek mythology text. I feel like an archaeologist – I’m dusting off these things that people have not seen for thousands of years and bringing them into the modern world. Rick Riordan
I am an Epicurean. I consider the genuine (not the imputed) doctrines of Epicurus as containing everything rational in moral philosophy which Greek and Roman leave to us. Thomas Jefferson
Greek philosophy seems to have met with something with which a good tragedy is not supposed to meet, namely, a dull ending. Karl Marx
You are about to have your first experience with a Greek lunch. I will kill you if you pretend to like it. Jackie Kennedy
Poets that lasting marble seek Must come in Latin or in Greek. Edmund Waller
Every human being has within him an ideal man, just as every piece of marble contains in a rough state a statue as beautiful as the one that Praxiteles the Greek made of the god Apollo. Jose Marti
I obtained a Woodrow Wilson Doctoral Fellowship and entered the graduate program in History at the University of California. With no Greek or French and minimal Latin and German, I was in no position to pursue my classical interests, so I began work at Berkeley with little more than an open mind. Robert Lucas, Jr.
I never played sports or got into the whole guy camaraderie of, like, ‘I love you, man! Seniors forever!’ So suddenly being in the military with these guys who were under these very heightened circumstances, isolated from their families, living this very kind of Greek lifestyle, it changed my life in a really big way. Adam Driver
I was born into a Greek family, and it was instilled in me not only to be passionate about the culture but also to be freaky loyal. Elena Kampouris
Proportions are what makes the old Greek temples classic in their beauty. They are like huge blocks, from which the air has been literally hewn out between the columns. Arne Jacobsen
In a place like the Greek Theater in L.A., to try and create a close connection with the audience seems almost antithetical to the architecture of the building. Alex Ebert
People who look at Greek statues never say it’s a shame because they’re not complete. Giles Duley
Beyond Greek mythology, history just didn’t have a strong resonation with me. Rza
I’ve never been bored in my life, man. I’ve never been bored or lonely. Are you kidding? No way! I’m an orchestrator, a musician, a producer. I love everything. I’ve studied languages from Farsi to Greek to French, Swedish, Russian… How can you get bored? Quincy Jones
When we started Appaloosa, we were going to name it Pegasus because everyone was using Greek names. We filed the name. We paid $300, and they said you cannot use it because it is taken. Pegasus Funds. Then we said Pegasus is kind of a horse. We did not want to be the Unicorn Fund. So we pulled out a horse book. David Tepper
My Mom always cooked healthy. Greek food lends itself to cooking healthy. Cat Cora
I like to read in the bathtub. Ideally, that bathtub would be located on a small Greek island. Adam Mansbach
Right now I’d love to be sitting on a Greek island somewhere because of being Greek American, eating great octopus salad and some fantastic lamb. Or sipping a little ouzo. I think the Mediterranean diet is one of the healthiest… Lots of nuts, vegetables, fruits, fresh fish, lean meats, yogurt. Cat Cora
I had to go to an audition for a rather large West End musical set on a Greek island. I didn’t realise that you had to go with sheet music to give to the pianist. I took a Mark Bolan CD, a small ghetto blaster and then sang along. It was absolutely appalling. Mel Giedroyc
The white hot publicity that came from ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding’ was appreciated but not sought, so I was happy to walk away from it and then write. Nia Vardalos
We tend to think of divorced or complicated families as a modern invention, and that is not at all true. You only have to read the Greek myths to see broken homes, widows, divorce, stepchildren, children trying to get along with new parents. Rick Riordan
Superheroes have always been my thing. I’ve always loved their great allure, whether it’s your traditional superhero like Batman or Superman, or even Greek Mythology, heroes like Zeus. Cedric Alexander
I came from a tough neighborhood. I used to be a ‘dirty Greek.’ Telly Savalas
I am not a Catholic; but I consider the Christian idea, which has its roots in Greek thought and in the course of the centuries has nourished all of our European civilization, as something that one cannot renounce without becoming degraded. Simone Weil
For my part, it was Greek to me. William Shakespeare
I am not an Athenian or a Greek, but a citizen of the world. Diogenes
If, like me, you’re interested in history, Egypt is a place of wonders. It’s the land of many civilisations, including Greek, Roman, Christian, and Muslim. Michael Portillo
I have blonde hair and blue eyes, and whenever I tell people I’m Greek, they don’t believe me. Elena Kampouris
Of all the subjects on this planet, I think my parents would have been hard put to name one less useful than Greek mythology to securing the keys to an executive bathroom. J. K. Rowling
Arab civilizations had been of an abstract nature, moral and intellectual rather than applied; and their lack of public spirit made their excellent private qualities futile. They were fortunate in their epoch: Europe had fallen barbarous; and the memory of Greek and Latin learning was fading from men’s minds. T. E. Lawrence
The first two crusades brought the flower of European chivalry to Constantinople and restored that spiritual union between Eastern and Western Christendom that had been interrupted by the great schism of the Greek and Roman Churches. Joseph Jacobs
I know a little about Greek mythology. It’s not that far away from the Nordic mythology. Mads Mikkelsen
From that moment, I did not cease to pray to God that by his grace it might one day be permitted to me to learn Greek. Heinrich Schliemann
Television? The word is half Greek, half Latin. No good can come of it. C. P. Scott
I can make a couple of good sandwiches: tuna salad and chopped egg salad. And Greek bean soup. I was a cook for my old Zen master for many years. So there were two or three dishes that he liked, you know. Teriyaki salmon, a few things. Leonard Cohen
On the publicity tour of ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding,’ I was asked over and over again, if, as the writer, I felt it was a fair depiction of real life to have someone of my er, below average looks, hook up with hottie John Corbett. Nia Vardalos
My dad’s Macedonian, mum Greek… so for as long as I can remember, my uncles have talked about our warrior blood. Alexander Volkanovski
In the Western Church to which I belong, priests cannot be married as in the Byzantine, Ukrainian, Russian or Greek Catholic Churches. In those churches, the priests can be married, but the bishops have to be celibate. They are very good priests. Pope Francis
I thought that the chief thing to be done in order to equal boys was to be learned and courageous. So I decided to study Greek and learn to manage a horse. Elizabeth Cady Stanton
I am what libraries and librarians have made me, with little assistance from a professor of Greek and poets. Heraclitus
The business of being told to earn a dollar, that no one is going to give you anything – that was kind of my mantra throughout my childhood, and now it’s in my adult life. I find that people really tend to relate to the immigrant father, whether he be Italian, Greek, Spanish or whatever. Sebastian Maniscalco
A lot of names in America and Europe have their roots in Latin and Greek words. A lot of them go back to archetypes and their stories. Maynard James Keenan
I can’t tell you how lucky I feel. I’ve gotten to work Peter Facinelli ‘American Odyssey,’ and I got to do ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2’ – which really gave me such a tremendous amount of pride and patriotism, and it was very close to my heart. I’ve really had such great support, so many great teachers, and so many wonderful people surrounding me. Elena Kampouris
Even philosophers will praise war as ennobling mankind, forgetting the Greek who said: ‘War is bad in that it begets more evil than it kills.’ Immanuel Kant
Pre-workout I will have 1 cup of oatmeal and post-workout I will make a Greek yogurt parfait. Sistine Stallone
The ancient Greek oral poets all had this anxiety about the deficiencies of their memories and always began poems by praying to the Muse to help them remember. David Antin
School houses do not teach themselves – piles of brick and mortar and machinery do not send out men. It is the trained, living human soul, cultivated and strengthened by long study and thought, that breathes the real breath of life into boys and girls and makes them human, whether they be black or white, Greek, Russian or American. W. E. B. Du Bois
The British system had requirements, including Latin. I’m not positive you ever had to know Greek, but there are certainly kinds of curricula where you had to know Greek too. I think in Britain there was the most mindless, repetitive sort of learning. William Scott
A man is in general better pleased when he has a good dinner upon his table, than when his wife talks Greek. Samuel Johnson
There are three attributes for which I am grateful to Fortune: that I was born, first, human and not animal; second, man and not woman; and third, Greek and not barbarian. Thales
A couple years ago, the novelist Russell Banks told me he was reading the ancient Greek historian Herodotus. I asked why. He said, ‘Because I’ve always wanted to and am tired of having my reading assigned.’ I thought it was a marvelous declaration of independence. Richard Russo
I thought I was attractive when I shot ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding.’ Studio executives and movie reviewers let me know I had a confidence in my looks that was not shared by them. Nia Vardalos
Looking the way I look, whenever anybody’s looking for a light brown funny guy, I get the call… I’m 100 percent Greek, but I look like I could be Indian or Middle Eastern or Hispanic. If it’s ethnic, they’ll try and put me in it. Jason Mantzoukas
Aluminum is the most common metal in the earth’s crust, almost twice as abundant as iron. And one common class of aluminum minerals, collectively called alum, has been in use since at least Greek and Roman times. Sam Kean
My mom used to say that Greek Easter was later because then you get stuff cheaper. Amy Sedaris
It’s the perfect environment for prayer. Chanting in Greek… is like a beautiful opera, but way better. Troy Polamalu
After the Egyptian and Indian, the Greek and Roman, the Teuton and Mongolian, the Negro is a sort of seventh son, born with a veil, and gifted with second-sight in this American world, – a world which yields him no self-consciousness, but only lets him see himself through the revelation of the other world. W. E. B. Du Bois
I went to USC where there’s a huge Greek system. The school is in a pretty seedy area, so the only social life is at these fraternities. I never joined one myself, but I had a lot of friends who were in frats and I would go to those parties. I had a healthy dose of being around frat life while I was in school. Dave Franco
And though thou hadst small Latin, and less Greek. Ben Jonson
I’m in favour of religion as a tamer of arrogance. For a Greek Orthodox, the idea of God as creator outside the human is not God in God’s terms. My God isn’t the God of George Bush. Nassim Nicholas Taleb
My father is Chinese, Spanish, and Filipino; my mother is half-Irish and half-Japanese; Greek last name; born in Hawaii, raised in Germany. Mark Dacascos
The Greek side of me definitely loves a good meal, a lot of laughing, loud discussions. Rita Wilson
Given the tendency of many to picture God’s realm as somewhere high above Earth – an idea that sounds suspiciously like the Greek stories of deities perched on inaccessible mountain tops – it may seem plausible to assume that astronomers have special insight. Well, of course they don’t. Seth Shostak
Freedom in capitalist society always remains about the same as it was in ancient Greek republics: Freedom for slave owners. Vladimir Lenin
Superheroes fill a gap in the pop culture psyche, similar to the role of Greek mythology. There isn’t really anything else that does the job in modern terms. For me, Batman is the one that can most clearly be taken seriously. Christopher Nolan
English has been this vacuum cleaner of a language, because of its history meeting up with the Romans and then the Danes, the Vikings and then the French and then the Renaissance with all the Latin and Greek and Hebrew in the background. David Crystal
I was born into a Turkish family that had acquired Italian citizenship. Many members of the family subsequently became British, French, Brazilian, and German, so there was a bit of everything. It was not uncommon for people in the family to speak seven languages: English, French, Ladino, Italian, Turkish, Arabic, and even Greek. Andre Aciman
I was in a fertility situation publicly, so I disappeared. I was very satisfied just being to able to creatively express myself with writing. The white hot publicity that came from ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding’ was appreciated but not sought, so I was happy to walk away from it and then write. Nia Vardalos