Euripides
Greek playwright.
quem (or quos) Deus perdere vult, dementat prius.
I sacrifice to no god save myself — And to my belly, greatest of deities.
I care for riches, to make gifts
To friends, or lead a sick man back to health
With ease and plenty. Else small aid is wealth
For daily gladness; once a man be done
With hunger, rich and poor are all as one.
When a god plans harm against a man,
he first damages the mind of the man he is plotting against.
I think,
Some shrewd man first, a man in judgment wise,
Found for mortals the fear of gods,
Thereby to frighten the wicked should they
Even act or speak or scheme in secret.
Those whom the gods wish to destroy they first make mad.
I hold that mortal foolish who strives against the stress of necessity.
Old men's prayers for death are lying prayers, in which they abuse old age and long extent of life. But when death draws near, not one is willing to die, and age no longer is a burden to them.
Modern derivatives:
The proverb's meaning is changed in many English versions from the 20th and 21st centuries that start with the proverb's first half (through "they") and then end with a phrase that replaces "first make mad" or "make mad." Such versions can be found at Internet search engines by using either of the two keyword phrases that are on Page 2 and Page 4 of the webpage "Pick any Wrong Card." The rest of that webpage is frameworks that induce a reader to compose new variations on this proverb.
Ares (The God of War) hates those who hesitate.
Nothing has more strength than dire necessity.
The gods do nothing until they have blinded the minds of the wicked.
Nor do the gods appear in warrior's armour clad
To strike them down with sword and spear
Those whom they would destroy
They first make mad.
My tongue swore, but my mind was still unpledged.
Light be the earth upon you, lightly rest.
Those whom God wishes to destroy, he first makes mad.
Chance fights ever on the side of the prudent.
Cleverness is not wisdom. And not to think mortal thoughts is to see few days.
There is nothing more hostile to a city that a tyrant, under whom in the first and chiefest place, there are not laws in common, but one man, keeping the law himself to himself, has the sway, and this is no longer equal.