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The gods help those who help themselves.

Ancient Greek proverb

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The story behind the card

The saying began in ancient Greece, where it may already have been a proverb. The Athenian playwright Sophocles wrote that heaven never helps those who will not act, and in Aesop's fable of Hercules and the Wagoner, a driver whose wagon is stuck prays to Hercules and is told to get to work himself. The English form with “God” goes back to the 17th-century political writer Algernon Sidney; Benjamin Franklin printed it in Poor Richard's Almanack in 1736. It is not in the Bible.

Türkçe oku
Tanrılar, kendine yardım edene yardım eder.
Antik Yunan atasözü

Söz eski Yunanistan'da doğdu; belki daha o zaman bir atasözüydü. Atinalı oyun yazarı Sofokles, harekete geçmeyene tanrıların yardım etmediğini yazar. Ezop'un “Herakles ile Arabacı” masalında ise arabası saplanıp kalan bir arabacı Herakles'e yalvarır; Herakles de ona önce kendisinin işe koyulmasını söyler. “Tanrı” sözcüğüyle kurulan İngilizce biçim, 17. yüzyılda yaşamış İngiliz siyaset yazarı Algernon Sidney'e dayanır; Benjamin Franklin de sözü 1736'da Poor Richard's Almanack adlı yıllığında yayımladı. Söz Tevrat'ta da İncil'de de yer almaz. Türkçede aynı düşünceyi “Nerede hareket, orada bereket” atasözü dile getirir.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: God helps those who help themselves
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