Shrines! Shrines! Surely you don't believe in the gods. What's your argument? Where's your proof?
Hunger knows no friend but its feeder.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote suggests that hunger or need is a powerful force that can override relationships and loyalty.
In this quote, Aristophanes highlights the idea that when it comes to fulfilling deep-seated needs such as hunger, social bonds and friendships become secondary. It suggests that in times of desperate need, individuals are often compelled to seek help from whoever can provide it, regardless of their previous relationships or affiliations. This speaks to the primal instincts that drive human behavior, emphasizing how fundamental needs can dictate actions and priorities.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech addressing poverty, one might say, 'As Aristophanes observed, hunger knows no friend but its feeder.'
More from Aristophanes
All quotes β[Y]ou [man] are fool enough, it seems, to dare to war with [woman=] me, when for your faithful ally you might win me easily.
Quickly, bring me a beaker of wine, so that I may wet my mind and say something clever.
Open your mouth and shut your eyes and see what Zeus will send you.
When men drink, then they are rich and successful and win lawsuits and are happy and help their friends. Quickly, bring me a beaker of wine, so that I may wet my mind and say something clever.
These impossible women! How they do get around us! The poet was right: Can't live with them, or without them.
Similar quotes
Non-thinking is an act of annihilation, a wish to negate existence, an attempt to wipe out reality. But existence exists; reality is not to be wiped out, it will merely wipe out the wiper
What we experience is our own concept of things. That is why no two people see quite the same world, and why, in many cases, different people see such different worlds. To put it another way, we make our own world by the way in which we think; for we really do live in a world of our own thoughts.
The idea that myth is the opposite of knowledge, or the opposite of truth, is simply to disallow it. It is like saying poetry is the opposite of truth.
Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should dwell.
Bad laws are the worst sort of tyranny.
Only powerful people have liberty.