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Νίκη δ᾽ ἐπαμείβεται ἄνδρας.

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Νίκη δ᾽ ἐπαμείβεται ἄνδρας.

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Victory alternates between men.

This is another saying from Homer's Iliad. Paris speaks the words to Hector when Hector rebukes him for being a coward. Literally, Nike, the goddess of victory, "barters" men, exchanging one for another; see the uncompounded verb ἀμείβω in the LSJ for the range of meaning. For more about the goddess of Victory, see Wikipedia: Nike.

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Ψυχῆς εἴδωλον ὁ λόγος.

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Ψυχῆς εἴδωλον ὁ λόγος.

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Speech is the image of the soul.

The word εἴδωλον can mean a phantom, but it also means any sort of insubstantial image, like an image reflected in a mirror, which is the idea here. The word is derived from the noun εἶδος, which means an image or form (Platonic "form"), from the IE root weyd- meaning "see" (as also in Latin video). From Greek ψυχή we get "psychology" and all the other "psych-" words, and from εἴδωλον we get the word "idol."

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Ἕπου χώρας τρόποις.

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Ἕπου χώρας τρόποις.

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Follow the customs of the country.

Compare the English saying "when in Rome, do as the Romans do." The verb ἕπου is another middle imperative, and the verb takes a dative complement: τρόποις. Greek τρόπος gives us English "trope." The Greek word χώρα has an uncertain etymology; the "chor-" words in English like chorus and choreography come from Greek χορός, "dance" (note the omicron), not χώρα (omega).

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Καρδία ἐλάφου.

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Καρδία ἐλάφου.

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The heart of a deer.

This is a saying indicating cowardice, and the words were famously used by Achilles when he taunted Agamemnon in the opening book of the Iliad: "οἰνοβαρές, κυνὸς ὄμματ᾽ ἔχων, κραδίην δ᾽ ἐλάφοιο," "weighed down with wine, having the face of a dog but the heart of a deer," where κραδίη ἐλάφοιο is the Homeric form of καρδία ἐλάφου. Here is the meter marked:

"οἰνοβα~ρές, κυνὸς ὄμματ᾽ ἔ~χων, κραδί~ην δ᾽ ἐλά~φοιο

There is an Aesop's fable about the proverbial cowardice of the deer.

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Σοφίαν ζήλου.

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Σοφίαν ζήλου.

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Strive for wisdom.

This is one of the sayings attributed by Stobaeus to the Seven Sages. The verb ζήλου is a middle imperative from the verb ζηλόω, and like many middle verbs it can take a direct object: σοφίαν. From that same root we get both English zealous and jealous. For more about the goddess of wisdom, see Wikipedia: Sophia.

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Πᾶς γὰρ τὸ οἰκεῖον ἔργον ἀγαπᾷ.

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Πᾶς γὰρ τὸ οἰκεῖον ἔργον ἀγαπᾷ.

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Every (artist) loves his own artwork.

The phrase appears in Aristotle. What Aristotle then goes on to say is even more interesting: πᾶς γὰρ τὸ οἰκεῖον ἔργον ἀγαπᾷ μᾶλλον ἢ ἀγαπηθείη ἂν ὑπὸ τοῦ ἔργου ἐμψύχου γενομένου, "every artist loves his own artwork more than he would be loved by that artwork if it were to come to life." That does not bode well for Pygmalion!

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Ἄιδεις ὥσπερ εἰς Δῆλον πλέων. 

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Ἄιδεις ὥσπερ εἰς Δῆλον πλέων. 

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You're singing as if sailing to Delos.

This referred to someone who is singing happily or just generally in a good mood. You can read about the island of Delos at Wikipedia, and the article even contains a reference to this proverb! The verb ᾄδω (ἀείδω) is related to the noun ᾠδή, which gives us English "ode."

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Πρᾶττε δίκαια.

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Πρᾶττε δίκαια.

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Do the right things.

This is one of the maxims that Stobaeus attributes to the Seven Sages. The word πρᾶττε is Attic; you will also see the form πρᾶσσε; the related verbal nouns πρᾶγμα and πρᾶξις give us the English words "pragmatic" and "praxis."

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Αἰγιαλῷ λαλεῖς.

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Αἰγιαλῷ λαλεῖς.

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You're talking to the seashore.

This is another fool's errand: you're talking to the waves pounding against the seashore, i.e. to someone who cannot hear you. You can see the Greek root λαλ- in the -lalia words like glossolalia and echolalia.

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Ἄμμον μετρεῖς.

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Ἄμμον μετρεῖς.

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You're measuring sand.

This is a proverbial fool's errand; the idea is that you are counting grains of sand... which means you will never stop counting. From the root in Greek μετρ- we get all the meter and -metry words in English, like kilometer and geometry.

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Ἡδύ γε σιωπᾶν ἢ λαλεῖν, ἃ μὴ πρέπει.

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Ἡδύ γε σιωπᾶν ἢ λαλεῖν, ἃ μὴ πρέπει.

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Sweet it is to keep silent, rather than say things that are inappropriate.

The Greek infinitive is technically a neuter noun, hence the neuter adjective here: ἡδύ σιωπᾶν, "to keep silent is sweet." This is one of the monostichs (one-liners) of Menander; here it is with the iambic meter marked:

Ἡδύ γε | σιω||πᾶν ἢ | λαλεῖν || ἃ μὴ | πρέπει.

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Κακὰ κέρδεα ἶσ᾽ ἀάτῃσιν.

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Κακὰ κέρδεα ἶσ᾽ ἀάτῃσιν.

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Wicked gains are equivalent to losses.

The words come from Hesiod's Works and Days. The adjective ἶσα has lost its final vowel before the following vowel: ἶσα ἀάτῃσιν. The word ἄτη has a wide range of meanings in Greek; see the LSJ dictionary entry. For Ἄτη as the goddess of error and ruin, see Wikipedia: Ate.

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Κενὰ κενοὶ βουλεύονται.

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Κενὰ κενοὶ βουλεύονται.

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Useless people make useless plans.

The adjective κενός means literally "empty," but it also has a range of metaphorical meanings: fruitless, purposeless, useless, etc. From Greek English has adopted the theological word kenosis, which has a more positive sense of emptying oneself to make room for the divine; to find out more, see Wikipedia: Kenosis.

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Φίλοις εὐνόει.

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Φίλοις εὐνόει.

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Wish your friends well.

This is another of the maxims that Stobaeus attributed to the Seven Sages. The compound verb εὐνοέω ("well-think") takes a dative complement: φίλοις. The form εὐνόει is a contract imperative; the 3rd-person singular indicative would be εὐνοεῖ, with a difference only in the accent mark. The adjective φίλος is often used substantively as a noun, "friend."

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Ἔρρει τὰ καλά.

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Ἔρρει τὰ καλά.

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The good things are gone.

Here the adjective καλά is being substantively: the good (things). As usual in ancient Greek, the neuter plural subject takes a singular verb. Xenophon reports these as the words of the Spartan Hippocrates announcing the loss of the fleet and the death of his commander Mindarus in battle; the brief letter, intercepted by the Athenians, reads as follows: ἔρρει τὰ κᾶλα. Μίνδαρος ἀπεσσύα. πεινῶντι τὤνδρες. ἀπορίομες τί χρὴ δρᾶν; "The good things (i.e. the ships) are gone. Mindarus is dead. The men are starving. At a loss what to do."

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Ταῦτα θεῶν ἐν γούνασι κεῖται.

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Ταῦτα θεῶν ἐν γούνασι κεῖται.

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These things rest on the knees of the gods.

This can also be translated as "in the lap" of the gods. The words come from Homer's Iliad. Hector is addressing Achilles before their duel, and it is indeed true that the outcome is up to the gods: as Hector then throws his spear at Achilles, Athena turns Hector's spear aside, saving Achilles. R. B. Onians (author of the remarkable book The Origins of European Thought) wrote an essay about this phrase: On the Knees of the Gods.

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Πόνος ὁ μὴ φοβῶν κράτιστος.

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Πόνος ὁ μὴ φοβῶν κράτιστος.

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The labor which does not cause fear is best.

These words are spoken by the Chorus in Sophocles's Philoctetes. The verb φοβέω has very different meanings in the active and middle: in the active, as here, it means to frighten or cause fear; in the middle, it means to be afraid.

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Κατόπιν ἑορτῆς ἥκεις.

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Κατόπιν ἑορτῆς ἥκεις.

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You have come late to the festival.

This saying is used to mock anyone who has arrived late for a business matter or some other serious purpose. There are also variants of this saying referring to popular Greek festivals: Παναθηναίων κατόπιν ... Πυθίων ὕστερον ἧκες. You can read about the Panthenaean festival and the Pythian games at Wikipedia.

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Νόμῳ πείθου.

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Νόμῳ πείθου.

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Obey the law.

This is another of the maxims attributed by Stobaeus to the Seven Sages. The word πείθου is a middle imperative from πείθω, and one of the middle meanings of this verb is "obey" (in the sense of listen and obey, trust and obey), and it takes a dative complement: νόμῳ. In terms of etymology, πείθω is cognate with Latin fido, which means it is a cousin of English faith. Here is the Indo-European root: bʰéydʰeti.

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Εἰδὼς σίγα.

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Εἰδὼς σίγα.

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Having learned something, keep it quiet.

These words are attributed to Solon, one of the Seven Sages of Greece; find out more at Wikipedia. The word εἰδὼς is a perfect participle from οἶδα, a verb that only has a perfect system; a good way to see how that works is at the Wiktionary.

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Ἀετὸς μυίας οὐ θηρεύει.

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Ἀετὸς μυίας οὐ θηρεύει.

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An eagle does not hunt mice.

The idea is that someone great does not concern themselves with petty trifles, although eagles do in fact eat mice! Even the mighty bald eagle will eat mice if they cannot find better food; find out more: Bald Eagle. The negating οὐ is used with indicative verbs as here, as opposed to the use of μὴ for subjunctive and imperative verbs as above: Ὃ ἂν μὴ ἴδῃς μὴ λέγε.

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Ἀντὶ πέρκης σκορπίον.

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Ἀντὶ πέρκης σκορπίον.

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(To give) a scorpion instead of a perch.

The word σκορπίον is in the accusative, which lets you know there is an implied verb. The saying applies to any situation where, instead of a welcome or useful gift (like a perch, something nice to eat), you receive something that is unexpected and dangerous, not what you hoped for at all. Compare this similar idea in the Gospel of Luke: καὶ αἰτήσει ᾠόν, ἐπιδώσει αὐτῶ σκορπίον; "and if he asks for an egg, will he give him a scorpion?" (and see also the Gospel of Matthew).

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Ὃ ἂν μὴ ἴδῃς μὴ λέγε.

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Ὃ ἂν μὴ ἴδῃς μὴ λέγε.

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If you didn't see it, don't say it.

The words are attributed to Solon, one of the Seven Sages; find out more at Wikipedia: Solon. The particle ἂν with the subjunctive ἴδῃς conveys a hypothetical sense.  The verb ἴδῃς (aorist subjunctive) is used with the verb ὁράω, and this aorist stem is from the Indo-European root weyd- which you can see also in Latin video, and the same root also gives English "wise" and "wit" etc. You can read about the Indo-European stem at the wiktionary.

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Οὖτις ἐμοί γ' ὄνομα.

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Οὖτις ἐμοί γ' ὄνομα.

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Nobody is my name.

These are the words famously spoken by Odysseus, when he tells Polyphemus the Cyclops that his name is "nobody," which results in Polyphemus's failed cry for help: Οὖτίς με κτείνει, "Nobody is killing me!" You can read more about this episode from the Odyssey at Wikipedia: Polyphemus.

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Ἁπλῶς διαλέγου.

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Ἁπλῶς διαλέγου.

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Speak simply.

This one of the maxims attributed to the Seven Sages by Stobaeus. The verb διαλέγου is a middle imperative; διαλέγομαι is one of those verbs that has no active forms. The word ἁπλώς is an adverbial form of ἁπλοῦς, which means once-folded (ἁ-πλοῦς), the same etymology as the Latin simplex (sim-plex), which gives us English simple.

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