Thursday, July 16, 2026

Greek Proverbs: July 16

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 results display only at the blog, not in the email):
Δὶς καὶ ______ τὸ καλόν.
reveal/hide answerΔὶς καὶ τρὶς τὸ καλόν.

Πάντα γὰρ ______ καλά.
reveal/hide answerΠάντα γὰρ καιρῷ καλά.

Αὐτοὶ ______ ἐσθίετε.
reveal/hide answerΑὐτοὶ χελώνας ἐσθίετε.

Κοσκίνῳ ______ ἀντλεῖς.
reveal/hide answerΚοσκίνῳ ὕδωρ ἀντλεῖς.

______ ἀνὴρ μακρόβιος.
reveal/hide answerΚακὸς ἀνὴρ μακρόβιος.


Δὶς καὶ τρὶς τὸ καλόν.
Two times and three times (repeat what is) good.
The idea is that if something is good, once is not enough: repeat it again, and then again — two times and three. You can find this proverbial saying in Plato. Here's a rhyming version in English: That which seemeth well, 'tis well twice and also thrice to tell. The saying is often applied to things that are well said, but I like to think of having second and third helpings of food that is good to eat!


Πάντα γὰρ καιρῷ καλά.
All things (are) good at the right moment.
These words come from Sophocles's Oedipus the King, in a dialogue between Oedipus and Creon near the end of the play. Here and elsewhere I have not tried to translate the Greek particle γὰρ, although it shows up often in proverbs and sayings, providing a link between the saying and the context to which it is to be applied.



Αὐτοὶ χελώνας ἐσθίετε.
Eat the turtles yourselves!
A fuller form of the saying is Αὐτοὶ χελώνας ἐσθίεθ᾿ οἵπερ εἵλετε, "Eat the turtles yourselves, you who caught them." This is from a story about Hermes and some fishermen, as Erasmus explains: the fishermen had caught more turtles than they could eat, so when Hermes came by, they offered him some turtles to eat, but he realized their hospitality was not sincere, just convenient, so he told them to eat the turtles themselves. 



Κοσκίνῳ ὕδωρ ἀντλεῖς.
You're drawing water with a sieve.
This is a fool's errand: you can scoop all you want, but the sieve is not going to hold the water. Compare a similar saying you saw earlier: Κοσκίνῳ ὕδωρ φέρει, "He's carrying water in a sieve." The original meaning of the verb ἀντλέω is to bale bilgewater; the noun ἄντλος means bilgewater.



Κακὸς ἀνὴρ μακρόβιος.
The wicked man lives a long time.
Compare the English saying, "Only the good die young." (Or the less well-known English saying, "A creaking door hangs long on its hinges.") You can see the Greek root κακ- in the English word "cacophony," and English "macrobiotic" is from μακρό-βιος.



Δὶς καὶ ______ τὸ καλόν.
reveal/hide answerΔὶς καὶ τρὶς τὸ καλόν.

Πάντα γὰρ ______ καλά.
reveal/hide answerΠάντα γὰρ καιρῷ καλά.

Αὐτοὶ ______ ἐσθίετε.
reveal/hide answerΑὐτοὶ χελώνας ἐσθίετε.

Κοσκίνῳ ______ ἀντλεῖς.
reveal/hide answerΚοσκίνῳ ὕδωρ ἀντλεῖς.

______ ἀνὴρ μακρόβιος.
reveal/hide answerΚακὸς ἀνὴρ μακρόβιος.


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




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