Greek Proverbs: Feb. 24

Here are today's Greek proverbs with LOLCats! These are repeats of previous proverbs, but now with illustrations (and there are always more proverbs at the blog):

Θεοὺς σέβου.

Revere the gods.

This is one of so-called Delphic maxims, the sayings recorded by Stobaeus. They take the form of imperatives, which means they provide lots of opportunities to practice those middle imperative forms, like this one: σέβου.

Ὁμόνοιαν δίωκε.

Pursue oneness-of-mind.

You could also translate this Greek compound ὁμό-νοια as "unanimity," un-anim-ity, or "concord," con-cord. This is another one of those Delphic maxims recorded by Stobaeus.

Εἷς ἀνὴρ οὐ πάνθ᾽ ὁρᾷ. 

One man does not see all things.

The final alpha of πάντα elides before the following vowel, and because the following vowel is aspirated, πάντ' becomes πάνθ᾽. The saying is from Euripides's Phoenician Women.

Χάρις χάριν τίκτει.

One kindness gives rise to another.

Compare a saying you saw earlier at this blog: Δίκη δίκην τίκτει, καὶ βλάβη βλάβην. The Greek word χάρις has a wide range of meaning, as you can see at Logeion: χάρις.

Πάσα ἀρχὴ δύσκολος.

Every beginning is difficult.

As someone who is beginning the study of Japanese, I can attest to the truth of this saying! Note that like so many compound adjectives, δύσκολος does not have a distinctive feminine form: it is both masculine and feminine. 

And to finish up, here's a random proverb and a random LOLCat too:

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