Sophocles Quotes (225 Quotes)

And if you find I've lied, from this day on call the prophet blind.

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.

I have no desire to suffer twice, in reality and then in retrospect.

In time you will know this well: For time, and time alone, will show the just man, though scoundrels are discovered in a day.

A city which belongs to just one man is no true city

Let every man in mankind's frailty consider his last day; and let none presume on his good fortune until he find Life, at his death, a memory without pain.

A man, though wise, should never be ashamed of learning more, and must unbend his mind.

The truth is what I cherish and that's my strength

Another husband could be found and with That husband another son. But I have no mother now. I have no father. I cannot bring another brother to the world.

They are dying, the old oracles sent to Laius, now our masters strike them off the rolls. Nowhere Apollo's golden glory now -- the gods, the gods go down.

Do not fear for me. Make straight your own path to destiny.

To throw away an honest friend is, as it were, to throw your life away

Go then if you must, but remember, no matter how foolish your deeds, those who love you will love you still.

What is God singing in his profound Delphi of gold and shadow?

Grief teaches the steadiest minds to waver.

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.

I was born to join in love, not hate - that is my nature.

There's nothing in the world so demoralizing as money.

We have only a little time to please the living. But all eternity to love the dead.

Wisdom is the supreme part of happiness; and reverence towards the Gods must be inviolate. Great words of prideful men are ever punished with great blows, and, in old age, teach the chastened to be wise.

All my care is you, and all my pleasure yours.

I see the state of all of us who live, nothing more than phantoms or a weightless shadow.

One who knows how to show and to accept kindness will be a friend better than any possession.

Quick decisions are unsafe decisions.

If my body is enslaved, still my mind is free.

Think not that thy word and thine alone must be right.

For the wretched one night is like a thousand; for someone faring well death is just one more night.

Much speech is one thing, well-timed speech is another.

Do nothing secretly for Time sees and hears all things, and discloses all.

Whoever thinks his friend more important than his country, I rate him nowhere.

Reverence does not die with mortals, nor does it perish whether they live or die.

No lie ever reaches old age.

Wisdom is the most important part of happiness.

The gods plant reason in mankind, of all good gifts the highest.

Gratitude to gratitude always gives birth.

No more shall ye behold such sights of woe, deeds I have suffered and myself have wrought henceforward quenched in darkness shall ye see those ye should ne'er have seen now blind to those whom, when I saw, I vainly yearned to know.

Marvels are many, but man is the greatest.

What house, bloated with luxury, ever became prosperous without a woman's excellence?

A word does not frighten the man who, in acting, feels no fear.

There is no happiness where there is no wisdom No wisdom but in submission to the gods. Big words are always punished, And proud men in old age learn to be wise.

Old age and the passage of time teach all things.

Time alone can prove a just man just, though you can know a bad man in a day.

Men may know many things by seeing; but no prophet can see before the event, nor what end waits for him.

Fortune raises up and fortune brings low both the man who fares well and the one who fares badly; and there is no prophet of the future for mortal men.

Better not to exist than live basely.

Hush! Check those words. Do not cure ill with ill and make your pain still heavier than it is.

Success is the reward of toil.

Children are the anchors of a mother's life.

One must learn by doing the thing though you think you know it, you have no certainty until you try.

Wonders are many, and none is more wonderful than man.