A god implants in mortal guilt whenever he wants utterly to confound a house.
AeschylusRead
[Hermes addresses Prometheus :] To you, the clever and crafty, bitter beyond all bitterness, who has sinned against the gods in bestowing honors upon creatures of a day--to you, thief of fire, I speak.
Interpretation
This quote reflects the tension between human creativity and divine order, highlighting the consequences of defying higher powers.
In this quote, Hermes confronts Prometheus for his audacity in gifting fire to humanity, symbolizing knowledge and enlightenment. It emphasizes the bitter irony of human achievements that often come with divine disapproval, suggesting a profound conflict between human ambition and the limits imposed by the gods.
In practice
In a discussion about creativity and innovation, one could quote this to emphasize the risks of challenging convention.
A god implants in mortal guilt whenever he wants utterly to confound a house.
Neither a life of anarchy nor a life under a despot should you praise. To all that lies in the middle has a god given excellence.
In every tyrant's heart there springs in the end this poison, that he cannot trust a friend.
It is not the oath that makes us believe the man, but the man the oath.
In war, truth is the first casualty.
There is no pain so great as the memory of joy in present grief.
A little flesh, a little breath, and a Reason to rule all - that is myself.
We can do nothing without the body, let us always take care that it is in the best condition to sustain us.
That which has been believed by everyone, always and everywhere, has every chance of being false.
Politics are not the task of a Christian.
Moral responsibility is what is lacking in a man when he demands it of a woman.
Here ends the SILMARILLION. If it has passed from the high and the beautiful to darkness and ruin, that was of old the fate of Arda Marred; and if any change shall come and the Marring be amended, Manwë and Varda may know; but they have not revealed it, and it is not declared in the dooms of Mandos.
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