Friday, July 31, 2026

Greek Proverbs

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):

____ διὰ πάντα τελευτᾷ.
reveal/hide answerΘεὸς διὰ πάντα τελευτᾷ.

Δεῖ φέρειν τὰ τῶν ____.
reveal/hide answerΔεῖ φέρειν τὰ τῶν θεῶν.

____ μυίας οὐ θηρεύει.
reveal/hide answerἈετὸς μυίας οὐ θηρεύει.

Μὴ ____ ἀντ᾽ ἀλφίτων.
reveal/hide answerΜὴ λόγους ἀντ᾽ ἀλφίτων.

____ κενοὶ βουλεύονται.
reveal/hide answerΚενὰ κενοὶ βουλεύονται.


Θεὸς διὰ πάντα τελευτᾷ.
God brings all things to completion.
The words come from Homer's Iliad, when Agamemnon is basically blaming Zeus for his quarrel with Achilles. The word διὰ is not a preposition here; instead, it is functioning as an adverb; later, these adverbs attached themselves to the verbs as prefixes (δια-τελευτάω), but they were more free-floating in Homer. This is called tmesis, "cutting" of the verb; you can read more at Wikipedia: Tmesis. The root of the verb is τέλος, meaning the end or outcome, and you can see that Greek root in English teleology.



Δεῖ φέρειν τὰ τῶν θεῶν.
It is necessary to endure the things of the gods.
In other words: you must endure the things that are sent by the gods; that is your fate, your destiny. The saying is found in Euripides' Phoenician Women.



Ἀετὸς μυίας οὐ θηρεύει.
An eagle does not hunt mice.
The idea is that someone great does not concern themselves with petty trifles, although eagles do in fact eat mice! Even the mighty bald eagle will eat mice if they cannot find better food.
The negating οὐ is used with indicative verbs as here, as opposed to the use of μὴ for subjunctive and imperative verbs as in the next saying.



Μὴ λόγους ἀντ᾽ ἀλφίτων.
Don't (offer) words in place of barley.
The idea is that when someone is hungry, words will not satisfy that hunger; instead of offering kind words and generous promises, you need to provide actual help by providing actual food. The negative μή manages to convey the force of a negative imperative, even though the saying does have an explicit verb.



Κενὰ κενοὶ βουλεύονται.
Useless people make useless plans.
The adjective κενός means literally "empty," but it also has a range of metaphorical meanings: fruitless, purposeless, useless, etc. From Greek English has adopted the theological word kenosis, which has a more positive sense of emptying oneself to make room for the divine; to find out more, see Wikipedia: Kenosis



____ διὰ πάντα τελευτᾷ.
reveal/hide answerΘεὸς διὰ πάντα τελευτᾷ.

Δεῖ φέρειν τὰ τῶν ____.
reveal/hide answerΔεῖ φέρειν τὰ τῶν θεῶν.

____ μυίας οὐ θηρεύει.
reveal/hide answerἈετὸς μυίας οὐ θηρεύει.

Μὴ ____ ἀντ᾽ ἀλφίτων.
reveal/hide answerΜὴ λόγους ἀντ᾽ ἀλφίτων.

____ κενοὶ βουλεύονται.
reveal/hide answerΚενὰ κενοὶ βουλεύονται.


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




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