Tao Te Ching

The Power of Goodness, the Wisdom Beyond Words
Search Quotes Search Sages Search Chapters

Solon

638 – 558 BCE

Founder of Athenian democracy

Poet, statesman, lawmaker, one of the Seven Sages of Greece and known for establishing the foundations of Athenian democracy; Solon wrote poetry and helped stop the decline in ancient Athens. At that time, not being able to repay a debt meant slavery - first of your children, then your wife, and finally yourself. As much as 92% of all Athenians were slaves. A skilled compromise negotiator, and respected for his wisdom and fairness, Solon was given power to change this. Establishing publicly funded brothels "democratize" the availability of sexual pleasure, he cancelled debts and contracts, freed slaves, and ended the causal system. This along with his beneficial trade legislation and standards resulted in an economic revival, a new golden age, and the beginning of democracy.

Eras

Unlisted Sources

Quotes by Solon (12 quotes)

“Criticize your friend privately; praise him publicly.”

Themes: Friendship

Comments: Click to comment

“The best civilization considers the least injury done to the poorest, most powerless individual as an insult to the entire governmental structure.”

Themes: Government

Comments: Click to comment

“Laws are like spider webs—if a poor, weak creature touches them, it is caught; but, a big one can break through and get away.”

Themes: Law and Order

Comments: Click to comment

“Equality does not create war.”

Themes: Equality War

Comments: Click to comment

“I grow old learning something new every day. Seek to learn constantly while you live; do not wait in the faith that old age by itself will bring wisdom.”

Themes: Old Age

Comments: Click to comment

“Men keep agreements when it is to the advantage of neither to break them.”

Comments: Click to comment

“Rich people without wisdom are but sheep with golden fleeces.”

Themes: Wealth

Comments: Click to comment

“Nothing in excess.”

Comments: Click to comment

“In giving advice, seek to help, not to please, your friend. Do not counsel what is most pleasant, but what is best.”

Comments: Click to comment

“Justice, even if slow, is sure.”

Comments: Click to comment

“Solon surely was a dreamer, and a man of simple mind;
When the gods would give him fortune, he of his own will declined.
... that I spared my land, and withheld from usurpation and from violence my hand,
And forbore to fix a stain and a disgrace on my good name,
I regret not; I believe that it will be my chiefest fame.”

Comments: Click to comment

“Some wicked men are rich, some good are poor,
We will not change our virtue for their store:
Virtue's a thing that none can take away;
But money changes owners all the day.”

Themes: Virtue Money

Comments: Click to comment

Quotes about Solon (5 quotes)

“Solon, to save his country, put a trick upon both parties, and privately promised the poor a division of the lands, and the rich security for their debts... the rich consented because he was wealthy, the poor because he was honest.”

Plutarch 46 – 120 CE via Dryden Translation
(Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus)
from Parallel Lives

Comments: Click to comment

“Solon was not only the wisest man to be found in Athens, but the most profound political genius of antiquity; and the easy, bloodless, and pacific revolution.”

Lord Acton 1834 – 1902 CE
(John Dalberg-Acton)
Prolific historian and politician

Comments: Click to comment

“Solon learned something new, every day in his old age.”

Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. 1841 – 1935 CE
Game-changing Supreme Court Justice
from The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table

Comments: Click to comment

“Government by consent superseded government by compulsion, and the pyramid which had stood on a point was made to stand upon its base. By making every citizen the guardian of his own interest, Solon admitted the element of Democracy into the State.”

Lord Acton 1834 – 1902 CE
(John Dalberg-Acton)
Prolific historian and politician

Themes: Democracy

Comments: Click to comment

“Solon surely was a dreamer, and a man of simple mind;
When the gods would give him fortune, he of his own will declined.
... that I spared my land, and withheld from usurpation and from violence my hand,
And forbore to fix a stain and a disgrace on my good name,
I regret not; I believe that it will be my chiefest fame.”

Solon 638 – 558 BCE
Founder of Athenian democracy

Comments: Click to comment

Comments (0)