Athens Quotes

Athens invites reflection with its blend of antiquity and lively present, where marble ruins overlook busy markets and sea-lighted hills. From the Acropolis to neighborhood cafes, the city inspires thoughts on democracy, art, philosophy, and everyday resilience. These quotes offer perspectives from travelers, writers, and locals who have tried to name its energy, contradictions, and quiet beauty. Whether you know Athens well or are meeting it for the first time, let their words guide a calm, curious look at the city's enduring spirit.

"A great city, whose image dwells in the memory of man, is the type of some great idea. Rome represents conquest; Faith hovers over the towers of Jerusalem; and Athens embodies the pre-eminent quality of the antique world, Art"

Benjamin Disraeli, Statesman

Small: Benjamin Disraeli

"What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?"

Tertullian, Author

"How great are the dangers I face to win a good name in Athens"

Alexander the Great, Leader

Small: Alexander the Great

"This is Port of Spain to me, a city ideal in its commercial and human proportions, where a citizen is a walker and not a pedestrian, and this is how Athens may have been before it became a cultural echo"

Derek Walcott, Playwright

"When the freedom they wished for most was freedom from responsibility, then Athens ceased to be free and was never free again"

Edith Hamilton, Writer

"In cities like Athens, poor houses lined narrow and tortuous streets in spite of luxurious public buildings"

Stephen Gardiner, Architect

"An Aristotle was but the rubbish of an Adam, and Athens but the rudiments of Paradise"

Robert South, Clergyman

"A few of the sublimest geniuses of Rome and Athens had some faint discoveries of the spiritual nature of the human soul, and formed some probable conjectures, that man was designed for a future state of existence"

David Brainerd, Clergyman

"Justice will not come to Athens until those who are not injured are as indignant as those who are injured"

Thucydides, Historian

"So, we went from being an Athens band to being a Georgia band to being a Southern band to being an American band from the East Coast to being an American band and now we're kind of an international phenomenon"

Michael Stipe, Musician

"It was appointed by law in Athens, that the obsequies of the citizens who fell in battle should be performed at the public expense, and in the most honorable manner"

Edward Everett, Statesman

"Being in America isn't old-hat - it's where we're from - but I get excited to be in other parts of the world like Athens and Croatia, which were quite cool. I'm a sightseer. I go see the sights and museums. I'm into that kind of thing"

Richie Sambora, Musician

"The Olympic Games of the Modern Era began in 1896 in the city of Athens"

Bill Toomey, Athlete

"Athens will again be the host of the Games in 2004, but there are rumors that they might be switched if the Greeks don't begin to construct the sites faster"

Bill Toomey, Athlete

"If my training goes well and according to plan I feel that I am capable of a top 8 finish in Athens. It will be a very difficult and technical course which will be to my advantage"

Jonathan Brown, Athlete

"My sisters and I were fortunate to travel through Asia and Europe at very young ages. We confronted extraordinary beauty in Athens and unspeakable poverty in India"

Mary Chapin Carpenter, Musician

"At Athens, wise men propose, and fools dispose"

Alcuin, Clergyman

"As in Athens, the right to participate was restricted to men, just as it was also in all later democracies and republics until the twentieth century"

Robert A. Dahl, Professor

Small: Robert A. Dahl

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