Greek Proverbs: April 30

Here are today's Greek proverbs with LOLCats! These are repeats of previous proverbs, but now with illustrations... and with a quiz too! See how you do on the questions up top, and then try them again down below after you've read through the proverbs (the quiz answers display only at the blog, not in the email):

Μέτρον ______.

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Μέτρον ἄριστον.

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______ ἕψεις.

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Πέτρας ἕψεις.

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______ μετανόει.

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Ἁμαρτάνων μετανόει.

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Ἡ γὰρ τυραννὶς ἀδικίας ______ ἔφυ.

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Ἡ γὰρ τυραννὶς ἀδικίας μήτηρ ἔφυ.

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Βατράχῳ ______.

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Βατράχῳ ὕδωρ.

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Μέτρον ἄριστον.

Moderation (is) best.

The words are attributed to Cleobulus, one of the Seven Sages of ancient Greece. For more on this concept in Greek culture, see Wikipedia: Golden Mean.

Πέτρας ἕψεις.

You're boiling rocks.

In other words: you're wasting your time. No matter how long you boil a stone, it stays a stone. From the Greek πέτρα, we get English words like petrify, along with the name Peter. See this earlier blog post for a similar saying: Λίθον ἕψεις.

Ἁμαρτάνων μετανόει.

When you make a mistake, change your mind.

In other words: when you make a mistake, learn from your mistake! This is another one of the Delphic maxims, although both of these words went on to have somewhat different meanings in Christianity, where ἁμαρτάνω became a "sin" rather than just a mistake or error, and μετανόει became "repentance," rather than just changing your mind.

Ἡ γὰρ τυραννὶς ἀδικίας μήτηρ ἔφυ.

Tyranny is the mother of injustice.

The words come from Plutarch writing about Alexander the Great, quoting a line from a tragedy, "The Ransom of Hector," by Dionysius. Here is the iambic meter marked:

Ἡ γὰρ τυραν||νὶς ἀδ-(ι)κίας || μήτηρ ἔφυ.

From Greek τυραννίς, we get English "tyranny."

Βατράχῳ ὕδωρ.

Water for a frog.

This saying refers to making someone happy by giving them exactly what they want and/or need: frogs like water, so when you give water to frogs, they rejoice. A similar saying is Γαλῇ στέαρ, "Fat for a weasel." If you give a weasel some fat to eat, the weasel will be happy. From the root in Greek ὕδωρ, we get English words like hydrate, hydrant, etc.

Μέτρον ______.

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Μέτρον ἄριστον.

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______ ἕψεις.

reveal/hide answer

Πέτρας ἕψεις.

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______ μετανόει.

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Ἁμαρτάνων μετανόει.

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Ἡ γὰρ τυραννὶς ἀδικίας ______ ἔφυ.

reveal/hide answer

Ἡ γὰρ τυραννὶς ἀδικίας μήτηρ ἔφυ.

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Βατράχῳ ______.

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Βατράχῳ ὕδωρ.

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

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