The Birds quotes

No, I feel quite sure I could not, any more than could Execestides find his.

Aye, aye, my friend, ’tis indeed the road of “oh dears” we are following.

That Philocrates, the bird-seller, played us a scurvy trick, when he pretended these two guides could help us to find Tereus, the Epops, who is a bird, without being born of one.

Advice or a useful word from their lips, from them, the enemies of my forebears!

The wise can often profit by the lessons of a foe, for caution is the mother of safety.

’Tis just such a thing as one will not learn from a friend and which an enemy compels you to know. To begin with, ’tis the foe and not the friend that taught cities to build high walls, to equip long vessels of war;

But what object can have induced you to come among us? Speak boldly, for I shall not break the truce—until you have told us all.

I am bursting with desire to speak; I have already mixed the dough of my address and nothing prevents me from kneading it.

… Slave! bring the chaplet and water, which you must pour over my hands. Be quick!

Undoubtedly, but sharpen your beak well;

Zeus won’t be in a hurry to hand over his sceptre to the woodpecker.

It was not the gods, but the birds, who were formerly the masters and kings over men; of this I have a thousand proofs.

If they are happy, is not that the chief thing towards health?

The miserable man is never well.

Old Age also dwells in Olympus. How will they get at it? Must they die in early youth?

Come, you, who play spring melodies upon the harmonious flute, lead off our anapaests.

Weak mortals, chained to the earth, creatures of clay as frail as the foliage of the woods, you unfortunate race, whose life is but darkness, as unreal as a shadow, the illusion of a dream, hearken to us, who are immortal beings, ethereal, ever young and occupied with eternal thoughts

, for we shall teach you about all celestial matters; you shall know thoroughly what is the nature of the birds, what the origin of the gods, of the rivers, of Erebus, and Chaos; thanks to us, even Prodicus will envy you your knowledge.

you shall know thoroughly what is the nature of the birds, what the origin of the gods, of the rivers, of Erebus, and Chaos; thanks to us, even Prodicus will envy you your knowledge.

At the beginning there was only Chaos, Night, dark Erebus, and deep Tartarus.

Earth, the air and heaven had no existence.

thanks to us, even Prodicus will envy you your knowledge. At the beginning there was only Chaos, Night, dark Erebus, and deep Tartarus. Earth, the air and heaven had no existence.

Firstly, black-winged Night laid a germless egg in the bosom of the infinite deeps of Erebus, and from this, after the revolution of long ages, sprang the graceful Eros with his glittering golden wings, swift as the whirlwinds of the tempest.

He mated in deep Tartarus with dark Chaos, winged like himself, and thus hatched forth our race, which was the first to see the light.

When the kite reappears, he tells of the return of spring and of the period when the fleece of the sheep must be clipped. Is the swallow in sight? All hasten to sell their warm tunic and to buy some light clothing.

We are your Ammon, Delphi, Dodona, your Phoebus Apollo.

Before undertaking anything, whether a business transaction, a marriage, or the purchase of food, you consult the birds by reading the omens, and you give this name of omen to all signs that tell of the future.

Before undertaking anything, whether a business transaction, a marriage, or the purchase of food, you consult the birds by reading the omens, and you give this name of omen to all signs that tell of the future.

With you a word is an omen, you call a sneeze an omen, a meeting an omen, an unknown sound an omen, a slave or an ass an omen.

Is it not clear that we are a prophetic Apollo to you? If you recognize us as gods, we shall be your divining Muses, through us you will know the winds and the seasons, summer, winter, and the temperate months.

their notes reach beyond the clouds of heaven; all the dwellers in the forest stand still with astonishment and delight; a calm rests upon the waters, and the Graces and the choirs in Olympus catch up the strain, tio, tio, tio, tio, tiotinx.

There is nothing more useful nor more pleasant than to have wings.

To begin with, just let us suppose a spectator to be dying with hunger and to be weary of the choruses of the tragic poets; if he were winged, he would fly off, go home to dine and come back with his stomach filled.

If one of you, it matters not who, had adulterous relations and saw the husband of his mistress in the seats of the senators, he might stretch his wings, fly thither, and, having appeased his craving, resume his place.

Is it not the most priceless gift of all, to be winged?

Look at Diitrephes! His wings were only wickerwork ones, and yet he got himself chosen Phylarch and then Hipparch; from being nobody, he has risen to be famous; ’tis now the finest gilded cock of his tribe.

And if anyone is keeping birds shut up in his yard, let him hasten to let them loose; those who disobey shall be seized by the birds and we shall put them in chains, so that in their turn they may decoy other men.

Happy indeed is the race of winged birds who need no cloak in winter!

Neither do I fear the relentless rays of the fiery dog-days; when the divine grasshopper, intoxicated with the sunlight, when noon is burning the ground, is breaking out into shrill melody; my home is beneath the foliage in the flowery meadows.

’Tis on them the whole of our latter-day art depends.

The most brilliant dithyrambs are those that flap their wings in void space and are clothed in mist and dense obscurity.

To appreciate this, just listen.

But, by Zeus! there are honest ways of gaining a living at your age without all this infamous trickery.

My friend, I am asking you for wings, not for words.

’Tis just my words that give you wings.

Their name? Why, the Triballi.

Ah, indeed! ’tis from that no doubt that we derive the word “tribulation.”

Most likely. But one thing I can tell you for certain, namely, that Zeus and the celestial Triballi are going to send deputies here to sue for peace.

But, my friend, we are envoys of peace.

All the more reason why I wish to strangle him.

Hand me the cheese-grater; bring me the silphium for sauce; pass me the cheese and watch the coals.