Do better, or stay where you are.
Spartan mother, Plutarch, Sayings of Spartan Women, Anonymous 11 (241d)
Do better, or stay where you are.
Spartan mother, Plutarch, Sayings of Spartan Women, Anonymous 11 (241d)
The source
"Do better, or stay where you are." Spartan mother said it in Plutarch, Sayings of Spartan Women, Anonymous 11 (241d). Translated from the original Greek by Spartan Surfers.
"ἢ βελτίονα πρᾶσσε ἢ αὖθι μένε"Original Greek, Plutarch, Sayings of Spartan Women, Anonymous 11 (241d). Greek: Bernardakis 1889 (Teubner) via Perseus; Teleutia to her son Pedaritus.
Who said it
The Spartans (8th–4th century BC). Laconic sayings from Lycurgus, Leonidas, Dienekes and the mothers of Sparta, recorded by Herodotus and Plutarch.
Questions
- Who said "Do better, or stay where you are."?
- Spartan mother (8th–4th century BC). Source: Plutarch, Sayings of Spartan Women, Anonymous 11 (241d).
- What is the original Greek?
- ἢ βελτίονα πρᾶσσε ἢ αὖθι μένε. Translated from the original Greek by Spartan Surfers.
Filed under Character.
Wear Spartan mother
Blot out the sun? Good. We'll fight in the shade.
Dienekes, Herodotus, Histories 7.226
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With it or on it.
Spartan mother, Plutarch, Sayings of Spartan Women 241f
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Sword too short? Take one step closer.
Spartan mother, Plutarch, Sayings of Spartan Women, Anonymous 18 (241f)
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They're close? Then so are we.
Leonidas, Plutarch, Sayings of Spartans, Leonidas 7 (225b)
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More from The Spartans
- With it or on it.Plutarch, Sayings of Spartan Women 241f
- Come and take them.Plutarch, Sayings of Spartans 225c
- Blot out the sun? Good. We'll fight in the shade.Herodotus, Histories 7.226
- If.Plutarch, On Talkativeness 511a
- Fortify people, not walls.Epictetus, Fragment 45
- You gave me a violent young man. I give you back a good citizen.Epictetus, Fragment 67