Expert: Maria - 11/29/2007

Question
Hi,
i've been looking up some phrases by some philosophers and saw the quote 'hope is a waking dream' by aristotle, I wondered if you could translate this both into greek as it would have originally been, but also latin?  if possible i'd also like to know how i would say/write a french quote - hope is the worst of all evils, for it prolongs the torment of man.' I know they're a bit negative, but will relate very well to a piece i am writing.

thank you

Answer
Hello,

First of all in no Aristotle’s  work we  read the phrase “Hope is a waking dream” attributed traditionally to this philosopher.
This quote appears in fact on “Lives of Eminent Philosophers” by Diogenes Laertius, a Greek biographer who probably flourished in the first half of the third century AD, i.e. much later after Aristotle who died in 322 BC.

Anyway here’s the translation you asked me:

Latin: “Spes nihil aliud est nisi somnium”.

Greek: “Elpis oneiros esti”.
Note that this phrase is written in Latin alphabet as the system does not allow the use of the Greek letters.

As for “Hope is the worst of all evils, for it prolongs the torment of man”,  it is not  a French quote, but a German quotation from Friedrich Nietzsche, German Philosopher (1844-1900).

Best regards,
Maria