131 Quotes & Sayings By Sophocles

Sophocles was a Greek tragedian, author of some two hundred and fifty plays, including Antigone, Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, Electra, Oedipus Tyrannos, and Oedipus Coloneus. He has been considered the greatest of Ancient Greek playwrights. His plays continue to be performed around the world. Sophocles was also the founder of the first public school in Athens, which he called "the School of Wisdom" or "the House of Learning" because it attracted students from all over the city.

One word frees us of all the weight and pain...
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One word frees us of all the weight and pain of life: That word is love. Sophocles
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A man, though wise, should never be ashamed of learning more, and must unbend his mind. Sophocles
One must wait until the evening to see how splendid...
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One must wait until the evening to see how splendid the day has been. Sophocles
A lie never grows old.
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A lie never grows old. Sophocles
The truth is what I cherish and that's my strength
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The truth is what I cherish and that's my strength Sophocles
Sister - if all this is true, what could I...
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Sister - if all this is true, what could I do or undo? Sophocles
A soul that is kind and intends justice discovers more...
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A soul that is kind and intends justice discovers more than any sophist Sophocles
Prefiero, señor, obrar bien y fracasar, antes que triunfar con...
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Prefiero, señor, obrar bien y fracasar, antes que triunfar con malas artes. Palabras de Neoptólemo a Odiseo, en la tragedia griega Filoctetes. Sophocles
We have only a little time to please the living....
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We have only a little time to please the living. But all eternity to love the dead. Sophocles
Death is not the worst thing; rather, when one who...
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Death is not the worst thing; rather, when one who craves death cannot attain even that wish. Sophocles
Alas, how terrible is wisdomwhen it brings no profit to...
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Alas, how terrible is wisdomwhen it brings no profit to the man that's wise! This I knew well, but had forgotten it, else I would not have come here. Sophocles
Those swift to think are not always secure.
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Those swift to think are not always secure. Sophocles
Hide nothing, for time, which sees all and hears all,...
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Hide nothing, for time, which sees all and hears all, exposes all. Sophocles
Fear? What has a man to do with fear? Chance...
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Fear? What has a man to do with fear? Chance rules our lives, and the future is all unknown. Best live as we may, from day to day. Sophocles
To throw away an honest friend is, as it were,...
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To throw away an honest friend is, as it were, to throw your life away Sophocles
A city which belongs to just one man is no...
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A city which belongs to just one man is no true city Sophocles
All men make mistakes, but a good man yields when...
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All men make mistakes, but a good man yields when he knows his course is wrong, and repairs the evil. The only crime is pride. Sophocles
The soul that has conceived one wickedness can nurse no...
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The soul that has conceived one wickedness can nurse no good thereafter. Sophocles
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But if I am young, thou shouldest look to my merits, not to my years. Sophocles
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The keenest sorrow is to recognize ourselves as the sole cause of all our adversities. Sophocles
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If you try to cure evil with evilyou will add more pain to your fate. Sophocles
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And also because - Oh, my darling, my darling, forgive me; I’m going to cause you quite a lot of pain. Sophocles
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There's nothing in the world so demoralizing as money. Sophocles
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Money! Money's the curse of man, none greater. That's what wrecks cities, banishes men from homes, Tempts and deludes the most well-meaning soul, Pointing out the way to infamy and shame." - Creon Sophocles
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I have seen or heard of no other man whom destiny treated with such enmity as it did Philoktetes Sophocles
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You must remember that no one lives a life free from pain and suffering. Sophocles
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It is not in words that I should wish my life to be distinguished, but rather in things done. Sophocles
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May the dead forgive me, I can do no other But as I am commanded; to do more is madness." - Ismene Sophocles
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May the dead forgive me, I can do no other But as I am commanded; to do more is madness." - Ismene, Antigone (The Theban Plays) by Sophocles Sophocles
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Grief teaches the steadiest minds to waver. Sophocles
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Which would you choose if you could:pleasure for yourself despite your friendsor a share in their grief? Sophocles
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I could not turn away from anyone Like you, a stranger, or refuse to help him. I know well, being mortal, that my claim Upon the future is no more than yours. Sophocles
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I have been a stranger here in my own land: All my life Sophocles
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When he endures nothing but endless miseries-- What pleasure is there in living the day after day, Edging slowly back and forth toward death? Anyone who warms their heart with the glow Of flickering hope is worth nothing at all. The noble man should either live with honor or die with honor. That's all there is to be said. Sophocles
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The powe if fate is something terrible. It cannot be escaped--not with wealth or by war, not with a tower ir a sea-lashed black ship. Sophocles
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The tyrant is a child of PrideWho drinks from his sickening cup Recklessness and vanity, Until from his high crest headlong He plummets to the dust of hope. Sophocles
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I am determined that never, if I can help it, Shall evil triumph over good." - Creon Sophocles
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Evil gains work their punishment. Sophocles
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All concerns of men go wrong when they wish to cure evil with evil. Sophocles
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Shall not ILearn place and wisdom? Have I not learned this, Only so much to hate my enemy, As though he might again become my friend, And so much good to wish to do my friend, As knowing he may yet become my foe? Sophocles
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A sight to touch e’en hatred’s self with pity. Sophocles
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The only crime is pride. Sophocles
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I didn't say yes. I can say no to anything I say vile, and I don't have to count the cost. But because you said yes, all that you can do, for all your crown and your trappings, and your guards–all that your can do is to have me killed. Sophocles
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There is no greater evil than men's failure to consult and to consider. Sophocles
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I have nothing but contempt for the kind of governor who is afraid, for whatever reason, to follow the course that he knows is best for the State. Sophocles
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Thou wouldst make a good monarch of a desert Sophocles
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For Time calls only once, and that determines all. Sophocles
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Haemon: No city is property of a single man. Creon: But custom gives possession to the ruler. Haemon: You'd rule a desert beautifully alone. Sophocles
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In a just cause the weak will beat the strong! Sophocles
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Your edict, King, was strong, But all your strength is weakness itself against The immortal unrecorded laws of God.They are not merely now: they were, and shall be, Operative for ever, beyond man utterly. I knew I must die, even without your decree: I am only mortal. And if I must die Now, before it is my time to die, Surely this is no hardship: can anyone Living, as I live, with evil all about me, Think Death less than a friend? . Sophocles
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For if any man thinks that he is alone is wise--that in speech, or in mind, he hath no peer--such a soul, when laid open, is ever found empty. Sophocles
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Take these things to heart, my son, I warn you. All men make mistakes, it is only human. But once the wrong is done, a mancan turn his back on folly, misfortune too, if he tries to make amends, however low he's fallen, and stops his bullnecked ways. Stubbornnessbrands you for stupidity - pride is a crime. Sophocles
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Do not believe that you alone can be right. The man who thinks that, The man who maintains that only he has the power To reason correctly, the gift to speak, the soul– A man like that, when you know him, turns out empty. Sophocles
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Reason is God's crowning gift to man, and you are right To warn me against losing mine. I cannot say– I hope that I shall never want to say! – that you Have reasoned badly. Yet there are other men Who can reason, too; and their opinions might be helpful. You are not in a position to know everything That people say or do, or what they feel: Your temper terrifies them–everyone Will tell you only what you like to hear. . Sophocles
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Alas! How sad when reasoners reason wrong. Sophocles
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It is but sorrow to be wise when wisdom profits not. Sophocles
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There is much that is strange, but nothing that surpasses man in strangeness Sophocles
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Thy life is safe while any god saves mine. Sophocles
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TEIRESIAS: Alas, how terrible is wisdom whenit brings no profit to the man that's wise! This I knew well, but had forgotten it, else I would not have come here. Sophocles
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TEIRESIAS:You have your eyes but see not where you arein sin, nor where you live, nor whom you live with. Do you know who your parents are? Unknowingyou are enemy to kith and kinin death, beneath the earth, and in this life. Sophocles
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JOCASTA:So clear in this case were the oracles, so clear and false. Give them no heed, I say;what God discovers need of, easilyhe shows to us himself. Sophocles
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OEDIPUS:O, O, O, they will all come, all come out clearly! Light of the sun, let melook upon you no more after today! I who first saw the light bred of a matchaccursed, and accursed in my livingwith them I lived with, cursed in my killing. Sophocles
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CHORUS:You that live in my ancestral Thebes, behold this Oedipus, - him who knew the famous riddles and was a man most masterful; not a citizen who did not look with envy on his lot- see him now and see the breakers of misfortune swallow him! Look upon that last day always. Count no mortal happy till he has passed the final limit of his life secure from pain. Sophocles
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TEIRESIAS:I tell you, king, this man, this murderer(whom you have long declared you are in search of, indicting him in threatening proclamationas murderer of Laius)- he is here. In name he is a stranger among citizensbut soon he will be shown to be a citizentrue native Theban, and he'll have no joyof the discovery: blindness for sightand beggary for riches his exchange, he shall go journeying to a foreign countrytapping his way before him with a stick. He shall be proved father and brother bothto his own children in his house; to herthat gave him birth, a son and husband both;a fellow sower in his father's bedwith that same father that he murdered. Go within, reckon that out, and if you find memistaken, say I have no skill in prophecy. . Sophocles
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OEDIPUS: Upon the murderer I invoke this curse-whether he is one man and all unknown, or one of many- may he wear out his life in misery to miserable doom! If with my knowledge he lives at my hearth I pray that I myself may feel my curse. On you I lay my charge to fulfill all this for me, for the God, and for this land of ours destroyed and blighted, by the God forsaken. Sophocles
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We long to have again the vanished past, in spite of all its pain. Sophocles
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Hail the sun! the brightest of all that ever Dawned on the City of Seven Gates, City of Thebes! Hail the golden dawn over Dirce's river Rising to speed the flight of the white invaders Homeward in full retreat! " - Chorus Sophocles
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Time, which sees all things, has found you out. Sophocles
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Without labor nothing prospers. Sophocles
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There was the girl, screaming like an angry bird, When it finds its nest left empt and little ones gone." - Sentry Sophocles
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Heaven ne'er helps the men who will not act. Sophocles
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How dangerous can false reasoning prove! Sophocles
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Heaven ne'er helps the man who will not help himself. Sophocles
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I would prefer even to fail with honor than win by cheating. Sophocles
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One who knows how to show and to accept kindness will be a friend better than any possession. Sophocles
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You win the victory when you yield to friends. Sophocles
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To throw away an honest friend is as it were to throw your life away. Sophocles
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Rather throw away that which is dearest to you your own life than turn away a good friend. Sophocles
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When a man has lost all happiness he's not alive. Call him a breathing corpse. Sophocles
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Wisdom is the most important part of happiness. Sophocles
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Our happiness depends on wisdom all the way. Sophocles
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Best to live lightly unthinkingly. Sophocles
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One learns by doing the thing for though you think you know it you have no certainty until you try. Sophocles
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Whom Jupiter would destroy he first drives mad. Sophocles
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Kindness gives birth to kindness. Sophocles
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One word frees us of all the weight and pain of life: That word is love. Sophocles
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Chance never helps those who do not help themselves. Sophocles
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Seize the hour. Sophocles
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Why should a man fear since chance is all in all for him and he can clearly fore-know nothing? Best to live lightly as one can unthinking. Sophocles
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All is disgust when one leaves his own nature and does things that misfit it. Sophocles
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The greatest griefs are those we cause ourselves. Sophocles
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It is a painful thing to look at your own trouble and know that you yourself and no one else has made it. Sophocles
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What fate can be worse than to know we have no one but ourselves to blame for our misfortunes! Sophocles
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It is terrible to speak well and be wrong. Sophocles
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Success is dependent on effort. Sophocles
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Time is a kindly god. Sophocles
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Is anyone in all the world safe from unhappiness? Sophocles
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Closer, it’s all right. Touch the man of grief. Do. Don’t be afraid. My troubles are mine and I am the only man alive who can sustain them. Sophocles
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No one loves the messenger who brings bad news. Sophocles
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War never takes a wicked man by chance, the good man always. Sophocles