Life & Wisdom Quote by Hesiod

A single “bad man” becomes civic weather in Hesiod’s world: his private arrogance doesn’t stay private, it curdles into public consequence. The line lands with the blunt moral physics of early Greek thought, where wrongdoing is less a personal kink than a pollutant that spreads through institutions, harvests, and social trust. Hesiod isn’t describing a metaphorical “city” so much as naming the terrifying fragility of the polis before the polis fully exists: small communities where one powerful figure’s greed can distort judgments, provoke feuds, or invite divine displeasure.

The phrasing matters. “Sins and contrives” pairs impulse with calculation. This is not the hotheaded offender you can forgive after the dust settles; it’s the planner, the man who turns misrule into a project. “Presumptuous deeds” points straight at hubris: the overreach that signals someone has stopped recognizing limits, human or divine. That’s the real threat. Hesiod’s subtext is that social order depends on an almost ecological humility, and when that collapses at the top, everyone downstream drinks the same water.

Contextually, this sits comfortably beside Works and Days, where Hesiod scolds corrupt “kings” (judges) and ties justice to prosperity. The intent is admonition with a political edge: hold leaders accountable not because virtue is pretty, but because their moral failure is a tax the entire city pays, in famine, strife, and the slow normalization of cynicism.