Mastodawn

MEDEA: I think the unjust man who can speak cleverly
   incurs the greatest penalty for, feeling confident
   to cloak injustice in fair speech,
   he dares the utmost villainy.

[ΜΉΔΕΙΑ: ἐμοὶ γὰρ ὅστις ἄδικος ὢν σοφὸς λέγειν
   πέφυκε, πλείστην ζημίαν ὀφλισκάνει:
   γλώσσῃ γὰρ αὐχῶν τἄδικ᾽ εὖ περιστελεῖν
   τολμᾷ πανουργεῖν.]

Euripides (485?-406? BC) Greek tragic dramatist
Medea [Μήδεια], l. 580ff (431 BC) [tr. Ewans (2022)]

More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/euripides/81800/

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Euripides - Medea [Μήδεια], l. 580ff (431 BC) [tr. Ewans (2022)] | WIST Quotations

MEDEA: I think the unjust man who can speak cleverly incurs the greatest penalty for, feeling confident to cloak injustice in fair speech, he dares the utmost villainy. [ΜΉΔΕΙΑ: ἐμοὶ γὰρ ὅστις ἄδικος ὢν σοφὸς λέγειν πέφυκε, πλείστην ζημίαν ὀφλισκάνει: γλώσσῃ γὰρ αὐχῶν τἄδικ᾽ εὖ περιστελεῖν τολμᾷ πανουργεῖν.] (Source (Greek)).…

WIST Quotations

WIST Quotations Has Moved!Jul 1, 2025

A quotation from Euripides

HECUBA:      The clear actions of a man,
   Agamemnon, should speak louder than any words.
   good words should get their goodness from our lives
   and nowhere else; the evil we do should show,
   a rottenness that festers in our speech
   and what we say, in capable of being glozed
   with a film of pretty words.
                    There are men, I know,
   sophists who make a science of persuasion,
   glozing evil with the slick of loveliness;
   but in the end a speciousness will show.
   The imposters are punished; not one escapes
   his death.

[ἙΚΆΒΗ: Ἀγάμεμνον, ἀνθρώποισιν οὐκ ἐχρῆν ποτε
   τῶν πραγμάτων τὴν γλῶσσαν ἰσχύειν πλέον:
   ἀλλ᾽, εἴτε χρήστ᾽ ἔδρασε, χρήστ᾽ ἔδει λέγειν,
   εἴτ᾽ αὖ πονηρά, τοὺς λόγους εἶναι σαθρούς,
   καὶ μὴ δύνασθαι τἄδικ᾽ εὖ λέγειν ποτέ.
   σοφοὶ μὲν οὖν εἰσ᾽ οἱ τάδ᾽ ἠκριβωκότες,
   ἀλλ᾽ οὐ δύνανται διὰ τέλους εἶναι σοφοί,
   κακῶς δ᾽ ἀπώλοντ᾽: οὔτις ἐξήλυξέ πω.]

Euripides (485?-406? BC) Greek tragic dramatist
Hecuba [Hekabe; Ἑκάβη], l. 1186ff (c. 424 BC) [tr. Arrowsmith (1958)]

Sourcing, notes, other translations: wist.info/euripides/77262/

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WIST Quotations moves again!Jul 8, 2024

A quotation from Joubert, Joseph:

«
When you write easily, you always think you have more talent than you really do.

[Quand on écrit avec facilité, on croit toujours avoir plus de talent qu’on n’en a.]
»

Full quote, sourcing, notes:
https://wist.info/joubert-joseph/22408/

#quote #quotes #quotation #author #ease #ego #fluency #glibness #pride #skill #talent #verbosity #writing

Pensées [Thoughts], ch. 23 "Des Qualités de l’Écrivain [Of the Qualities of Writers]" ¶ 45 (1804 entry) (1850 ed.) [tr. Auster (1983)] - Joubert, Joseph | WIST Quotations

When you write easily, you always think you have more talent than you really do. [Quand on écrit avec facilité, on croit toujours avoir plus de talent qu’on n’en a.] (Source (French)). Alternate translations: He who writes with ease always thinks that he has more talent than he really has.…

WIST

WIST Quotations moves again!Feb 14, 2023

A quotation from Euripides

«««««
When a sensible man
has a good cause to defend, to be eloquent
is no great feat. Your tongue is so nimble
one might think you had some sense, but your words
contain none at all. The powerful man
who matches insolence with glibness is worst than a fool.
He is a public danger!
»»»»»

Full quote, sourcing, notes:
https://wist.info/euripides/58720/

#quote #quotes #quotation # arrogance #danger #eloquence #glibness #insolence #madness #oratory #publicsafety #speaking #threat