Quote by Hesiod: “Badness you can get easily, in quantity; the road is smooth and near. But goodness comes with effort.”

Vice is the path of least resistance — it requires no discipline, no sacrifice, no long-term thinking. Virtue and excellence are genuinely hard, demanding sustained effort over time. Hesiod was one of the first writers to name this plainly: becoming good is work, and the difficulty is the point.

Works and Days was written as a didactic poem addressed to Hesiod's brother Perses, who had allegedly bribed judges to take an unfair share of their father's estate. It is one of the oldest surviving works of social and ethical instruction in the Western tradition, composed in a period before widespread literacy.

Ancient Greek poet who was active around 700 BCE and is considered one of the two earliest Greek poets whose work survives, alongside Homer. His two major works — Theogony and Works and Days — address the origins of the gods and practical moral guidance for daily life. He was one of the first Greek writers to speak in his own voice.