Tao Te Ching
Hesiod
846 – 777 BCE
“History’s first economist”
Called “history’s first economist,” farm hand, singer, epic poet of the people; Hesiod used his poetry to paint and establish religious customs, Greek mythology, good farming practices, and a foundation for the poor to overturn the injustices and inequality of the kings and aristocracy. He protested against injustice, furthered the understanding of astronomy and time keeping, the economics of sea trade, and gave meaningfulness to creativity and hard work. While Homer extolled the hero, the rich and powerful; Hesiod championed the working classes and the common person (though not women).
Lineages
Aphorists / Compilers Artists Business Greek Poets
Eras
Western
Egyptian Civilization (3150 – 305 BCE)Babylonian Civilization (1895 – 619 BCE)
The Axial Age, “The Great Leap of Being” (800 – 200 BCE)
Chinese
Western Zhou 西周 (1046 – 771 BCE)Sources
Unlisted Sources
Quotes by Hesiod (12 quotes)
“When gods alike and mortals rose to birth,
A golden race th' immortals for'd on earth
Of many-languaged men: they lived of old
When Saturn reign'd in heaven, an age of gold.”
from Works and Days
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“For a man can win nothing better than a good wife, and nothing more painful than a bad one.”
from Works and Days
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“Do not let any sweet-talking woman beguile your good sense with the fascination of her shape. It's your barn she's after.”
from Works and Days
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“That man is best who sees the truth himself. Good too is he who listens to wise counsel. But who is neither wise himself nor willing to ponder wisdom is not worth a straw.”
from Works and Days
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“He does mischief to himself who does mischief to another, and evil planned harms the plotter most.”
from Works and Days
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“A man who works evil against another works it really against himself, he's only harming himself who's bent upon harming another”
from Works and Days
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“No gossip ever dies away entirely, if many people voice it: it too is a kind of divinity.”
from Works and Days
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“Fishes and wild beasts and winged birds should devour one another, since there is no justice in them; but to mankind he gave justice which proves for the best.”
from Works and Days
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“The road to virtue is long and goes steep up hill, hard climbing at first, but the last of it, when you get to the summit (if you get there) is easy going after the hard part.”
from Works and Days
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“It is best to work, at whatever you have a talent for doing, without turning your greedy thought toward what some other man possesses, but take care of your own livelihood… it is from work that men are rich, a working man is much dearer to the immortals.”
from Works and Days
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“Badness can be got easily and in shoals; the road to her is smooth, and she lives very near us. But between us and Goodness the gods have placed the sweat of our brows”
from Works and Days
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“Acquisition means life to miserable mortals.”
from Works and Days
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Quotes about Hesiod (1 quotes)
“Homer and Hesiod have attributed to the gods all sorts of things that are disreputable and worthy of blame when done by men: theft, adultery, and mutual deception.”
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