greek speakers needed for tattoo help

[NosPortatArma]

Hi, so I was thinking of getting a black ink text tattoo, a small one, on my forearm. Since its my first, I want it to stand for something meaningful and lasting. I have been going through some rough times lately, so I need a motivating tattoo to remind me to keep fighting, and hopefully impress girls too.

So what do I need help with? first of all, I need someone who knows greek. I want the tattoo in greek, in capital letters, and i want it to "look" really greek with as many of the "exotic" (Θ Π Σ Δ Φ Γ Ξ Λ Ψ Ω etc) greek letters as possible.

I want it to say "keep fighting", " never give up" or "dont give up" or something along those lines. preferably short and concise, not more than 4 words. If you know an ancient greek quote that fits, thats even better.

[alhoon]

Hi, so I was thinking of getting a black ink text tattoo, a small one, on my forearm. Since its my first, I want it to stand for something meaningful and lasting. I have been going through some rough times lately, so I need a motivating tattoo to remind me to keep fighting, and hopefully impress girls too.

So what do I need help with? first of all, I need someone who knows greek. I want the tattoo in greek, in capital letters, and i want it to "look" really greek with as many of the "exotic" (Θ Π Σ Δ Φ Γ Ξ Λ Ψ Ω etc) greek letters as possible.

I want it to say "keep fighting", " never give up" or "dont give up" or something along those lines. preferably short and concise, not more than 4 words. If you know an ancient greek quote that fits, thats even better.

I am a Greek.
"ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ" = "Come and get them" said from the Spartans to the Persian Envoy in Thermopylae when he asked them to surrender their arms (the equivalent of "this is Sparta" from the movie 300) comes to mind. You can impress girls with your deep knowledge of history. While it hasn't worked for me in Greece, I promise it has worked for a friend of mine that emigrated to USA although he's also from Sparta.
It was a situation of a few hundred Spartans and assisting troops in Thermopylae watching uncaring the tens of thousands of Persian soldiers behind the envoy and telling him in the most "I don't give a ####" terms that if the Persian king wants their weapons (they were asked to throw their weapons to show surrender), he will have to come and get them.

[Flinn]

Moved from the PH&A

[Kyriakos]

While "ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ" is the more famous one, i think that given you want it to be about keeping on fighting the better choice is ΘΑΡΣΕΙΝ ΧΡΗ, which means "you need to have courage"



There is also the similar "ΘΑΡΣΕΙΝ ΣΩΖΕΙΝ", which means that you need to have courage so as to save a life (your own as well as other people's).



Imo Θαρσείν χρη is a bit better, at least if you take into account that it was said by the goddess Athena (speaking through Odysseus) to the greeks besieging Troy. The greek army was about to give up at that point, so Athena said "ΘΑΡΣΕΙΝ ΧΡΗ,ΤΑΧ' ΑΥΡΙΟΝ ΕΣΕΤ' ΑΜΕΙΝΟΝ", which means "you need to have courage, maybe tomorrow things will be better".

[paleologos]

OK, I would also submit that the adage does not need to be something taken from the history books.
So, here are a few:
ΑΕΙΕΝ ΑΓΩΝΙΖΕΣΘΑΙ that roughly translates to "Always Keep Fighting",
ΜΗΔΕΠΟΤΕ ΠΑΡΑΙΤΟΥ that roughly translates to "Never Give Up",
ΕΠ ΑΓΩΝΩΣ ΘΑΝΕΙΝ ΕΥΘΑΝΑΤΟΝ that roughly translates to "To die fighting is to die a good death" (though I have reservations about the grammatics on this one).

Now there is also:
"ΤΟ ΔΙΣ ΕΞ ΑΜΑΡΤΕΙΝ ΟΥΚ ΑΝΔΡΟΣ ΣΟΦΟΥ" that translates to "To commit the same sin twice [is] not [a sign] of a wise man, but if I wanted to make a girl giggle I would corrupt it to
"ΤΟ ΔΙ ΣΕΞ ΑΜΑΡΤΕΙΝ ΟΥΚ ΑΝΔΡΟΣ ΝΟΘΡΟΥ" that translates to "To sin by means of sex in not a sign of a lazy man".

[ioannis76]

Since Kyriakos brought up the motto of the Hellenic Marines, here is the motto of the Hellenic rangers:
O ΤΟΛΜΩΝ ΝΙΚΑ= "who dares wins" and yes I know it's the same motto as the one in the British special forces.
You could go for something like this:


ΥΠΕΡΑΝΩ ΟΛΩΝ (or ΥΠΕΡΑΝΩ ΠΑΝΤΩΝ) Η ΠΑΤΡΙΣ=The Country is above all.

Another option would be: "ΟΥΚ ΕΛΑΤΤΩ ΠΑΡΑΔΩΣΩ" (or "ΤΗΝ ΠΑΤΡΙΔΑ ΟΥΚ ΕΛΑΤΤΩ ΠΑΡΑΔΩΣΩ"). It is a Greek military motto meaning (the country) I will not hand over (to the younger generation) as a smaller place (freely translated). That is the vow of the Athenian citizens back in the day.

These are patriotic mottos, of course, I hope you're not an antifa .

as many of the "exotic" (Θ Π Σ Δ Φ Γ Ξ Λ Ψ Ω etc) greek letters as possible.

It's funny how commonplace letters in one culture will seem exotic to a different culture. I get the same thing with chinese or japanese letters, they look like pretty drawings.

[Ἀπολλόδοτος Α΄ ὁ Σωτήρ]

"ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ" .... While it hasn't worked for me in Greece,

in Greece,

I mean, the outcome could have been expected.

[Kyriakos]

Yes, you need to be in a "the enemy outnumbers us a paltry x to 1; fair odds by any greek" situation ^_^