Greek Proverbs

Here are today's Greek proverbs; it's Group 215. Click on the word to learn more at Logeion:

κακός ~ κακοῦ (adj. masc.): bad, evil, wicked 

Ἀθηναῖος ~ Ἀθηναίου (adj. masc.): Athenian 

καθαιρέω ~ καθαιρήσω ~ καθεῖλον (verb): take down, bring down 

πρός (prep.+acc.): towards, beside 

ἴδιον ~ ἰδίου (adj. neut.): one's own, private; peculiar 

These are the proverbs (and there are always more proverbs at the blog):

Πυλωρὸς κακός.

Ἀθηναίων δυσβουλία.

Ἐπὶ σαυτῷ τὴν σελήνην καθαιρεῖς.

Φῶς ἐστι τῷ νῷ πρὸς θεὸν βλέπειν ἀεί.

Ἴδιον ἀνθρώπου φιλεῖν καὶ τοὺς πταίοντας.

And now, some commentary:

Πυλωρὸς κακός.

A bad gatekeeper.

The saying refers to a guardian who is unreliable or someone who has an important duty with which they should not be entrusted. It comes from an anecdote when the Isthmus of Corinth was occupied by Philip's army: Κακοὺς πυλωροὺς ὑμᾶς, ὦ Κορίνθιοι, ἡ Πελοπόννησος ἔχει, "The Peloponnese has you (as) bad gatekeepers, O Corinthians!" You can find this saying in Erasmus.

Ἀθηναίων δυσβουλία.

The recklessness of the Athenians.

The idea is that even though the Athenians were reckless, they had the support of the goddess Athena, with the result that, even though they were reckless, the Athenians enjoyed great successes. So the saying applies in general to someone whose good luck is able to compensate for their bad planning. This saying also appears in Erasmus.

Ἐπὶ σαυτῷ τὴν σελήνην καθαιρεῖς.

You're calling down the moon on yourself.

Calling down the moon was a regular practice of sorcerors in the ancient world, and it portended nothing good. So this saying applies to those who do things that will result in their own doom or destruction. This saying appears in the Wikipedia article about Greek Σελήνη, the moon goddess: Wikipedia — Selene.

Φῶς ἐστι τῷ νῷ πρὸς θεὸν βλέπειν ἀεί.

Looking ever towards god with your mind is the light.

This is one of many ancient Greek and Latin sayings associating god with light. It is another of the monostichs (one-liners) of Menander, so it is in iambic meter:

Φῶς ἐσ|τι τῷ || νῷ πρὸς | θεὸν || βλέπειν | ἀεί.

Ἴδιον ἀνθρώπου φιλεῖν καὶ τοὺς πταίοντας.

It is a human characteristic to love even wrong-doers.

This is a saying of the Roman philosopher-emperor Marcus Aurelius; you can find this saying and more of Aurelius's sayings at Wikiquote.

Marcus Aurelius

And here's a random proverb and a random LOLCat too:

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