taken from: aeschylus' play 'agamemnon' and herodotus' work 'the histories'.

original text:

[aeschylus' text:] '[...] For a mortal man to place his foot like this on rich embroidery is, in my view, not without some risk. So I'm telling you, honour me as a man, not as a god. My fame proclaims itself. It doesn't need foot mats made out of these embroideries. Not even to think of doing something bad is god's greatest gift. When a man's life ends in great prosperity, only then can we declare that he's a happy man. Thus, if I act, in every circumstance, as I ought to now, there's nothing I need fear. [...]'

[herodotus' text:] '[...] If, in addition to all this, he end his life well, he is of a truth the man of whom thou art in search, the man who may rightly be termed happy. Call him, however, until he die, not happy but fortunate. Scarcely, indeed, can any man unite all these advantages: as there is no country which contains within it all that it needs, but each, while it possesses some things, lacks others, and the best country is that which contains the most; so no single human being is complete in every respect- something is always lacking. He who unites the greatest number of advantages, and retaining them to the day of his death, then dies peaceably, that man alone, sire, is, in my judgment, entitled to bear the name of 'happy.' But in every matter it behoves us to mark well the end: for oftentimes God gives men a gleam of happiness, and then plunges them into ruin.[...]"

about the quoted person:

this is one of the chinese proverbs. these proverbs, which are thousands of years old, express the chinese life-philosophy and thanks to these proverbs the ancient way of thinking has survived during the centuries. Their content varies: they are about living, but also about astronomy or fighting (see know your enemy)

this phrase is also a piece of wisdom spoken by agamemnon, a character in 'agamemnon', written by aESCHYLUS, a Greek tragic poet who lived from 525 BC until 456 BC. you can find this quote in his work 'agamemnon' in line 938.

it is also a piece of wisdom spoken to croesus by The heathen Solon in nook 1 of herodotus' work 'the histories'. 'The Histories' are the account of the researches done by the Greek author Herodotus of Halicarnassus (c.480-429). book 1 tells a famous story of the encounter between the Lydian King Croesus, reckoned as one of the richest men in the world, and Solon, the wise Athenian.