Aristophanes
Aristophanes
Aristophanes, son of Philippus, of the deme Kydathenaion, was a comic playwright of ancient Athens. Eleven of his forty plays survive virtually complete. These, together with fragments of some of his other plays, provide the only real examples of a genre of comic drama known as Old Comedy, and are used to define it...
NationalityGreek
ProfessionPoet
stupid ignorance forever
Youth ages, immaturity is outgrown, ignorance can be educated, and drunkenness sobered, but stupid lasts forever.
father men age
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.
wealth excellent
Wealth--the most excellent of all gods.
ifs
Even if you persuade me, you won’t persuade me.
habit crabs walks
You cannot make a crab walk straight.
war winning men
[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.
atheist believe religion
Surely you do not believe in the gods. What's your argument? Where's your proof?
dream race darkness
Weak mortals, chained to the earth, creatures of clay as frail as the foliage of the woods, you unfortunate race, whose life is but darkness, as unreal as a shadow, the illusion of a dream.
truth-is foe
The truth is forced upon us, very quickly, by a foe.
childhood aging
The old are in a second childhood.
children wall war
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.
spring evil causes
Evil events from evil causes spring.
children poet masters
Children have a master to teach them, grown-ups have the poets.
care salary vote
You vote yourselves salaries out of the public funds and care only for your own personal interests; hence the state limps along.