Monday, August 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):

______ δ' ἀρετῆς ἀναίτιος.
reveal/hide answerΤύχη δ' ἀρετῆς ἀναίτιος.

Παντὶ αἰτοῦντί σε ______.
reveal/hide answerΠαντὶ αἰτοῦντί σε δίδου.

Ἓν οἶδα — ὅτι ______ οἶδα.
reveal/hide answerἛν οἶδα — ὅτι οὐδὲν οἶδα.

______ νήχεσθαι διδάσκεις.
reveal/hide answerἸχθὺν νήχεσθαι διδάσκεις.

Ἐν ______ κυσὶ μάχεσθαι.
reveal/hide answerἘν φρέατι κυσὶ μάχεσθαι.


Τύχη δ' ἀρετῆς ἀναίτιος.
Luck (is) not the cause of excellence.
Literally: Luck is not-cause, ἀναίτιος, of excellence. Alpha-privative adjectives like ἀναίτιος do not have a distinctive feminine form. In other words: you don't achieve excellence just by being lucky; you have to work for it. You can read about the goddess of luck at Wikipedia: Tyche



Παντὶ αἰτοῦντί σε δίδου.
Give to each person who asks you.
The words come from the Gospel of Luke, and you can find out more at Wikipedia: Sermon on the Plain (not the same as Sermon on the Mount in Matthew).



Ἓν οἶδα — ὅτι οὐδὲν οἶδα.
I know one (thing)  — that I know nothing.
This is the so-called "Socratic paradox." You can find out more at Wikipedia: I know that I know nothing. Both ἕν and οὐδὲν are being used substantively: one (thing) and not one (thing).



Ἰχθὺν νήχεσθαι διδάσκεις.
You're teaching a fish to swim.
This is a proverbial fool's errand: fish know how to swim already; you don't have to teach them. Compare a similar saying: Ἀετὸν ἵπτασθαι διδάσκεις, "You're teaching an eagle to fly." From the root in the verb διδάσκω, we get English words like didactic, autodidact, etc.



Ἐν φρέατι κυσὶ μάχεσθαι. 
To fight with dogs in a well.
This is used to refer to a quarrel or disagreement (μάχεσθαι) with disreputable, quarrelsome people (κυσὶ) in a situation from which you cannot extricate yourself (ἐν φρέατι). There a variation using a less well-known verb:  Ἐν φρέατι κυνομαχεῖν (κυνο-μαχέω, "fight with dogs").



______ δ' ἀρετῆς ἀναίτιος.
reveal/hide answerΤύχη δ' ἀρετῆς ἀναίτιος.

Παντὶ αἰτοῦντί σε ______.
reveal/hide answerΠαντὶ αἰτοῦντί σε δίδου.

Ἓν οἶδα — ὅτι ______ οἶδα.
reveal/hide answerἛν οἶδα — ὅτι οὐδὲν οἶδα.

______ νήχεσθαι διδάσκεις.
reveal/hide answerἸχθὺν νήχεσθαι διδάσκεις.

Ἐν ______ κυσὶ μάχεσθαι.
reveal/hide answerἘν φρέατι κυσὶ μάχεσθαι.


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



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