Sophocles Quotes
Truly, to tell lies is not honorable;
But when the truth entails tremendous ruin,
To speak dishonorably is pardonable.
Heaven never helps the man who will not act.
Men of ill judgement oft ignore the good
That lies within their hands, till they have lost it.
Variant: Ignorant men don't know what good they hold in their hands until they've flung it away.
Nobody likes the man who brings bad news.
The tyrant is a child of Pride
Who drinks from his sickening cup
Recklessness and vanity,
Until from his high crest headlong
He plummets to the dust of hope.
Rash indeed is he who reckons on the morrow, or haply on days beyond it; for tomorrow is not, until today is past.
Of all human ills, greatest is fortune's wayward tyranny.
When ice appears out of doors, and boys seize it up while it is solid, at first they experience new pleasures. But in the end their pride will not agree to let it go, but their acquisition is not good for them if it stays in their hands. In the same way an identical desire drives lovers to act and not to act.
Time eases all things.
Wisdom is a curse when wisdom does nothing for the man who has it.
A short saying oft contains much wisdom.
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; and as for the man who sets private friendship above the public welfare - I have no use for him, either.
For kindness begets kindness evermore,
But he from whose mind fades the memory
Of benefits, noble is he no more.
They are not wise, then, who stand forth to buffet against Love; for Love rules the gods as he will, and me.
Money: There's nothing in the world so demoralizing as money.
It is no weakness for the wisest man to learn when he is wrong.
What people believe prevails over the truth.
Unwanted favours gain no gratitude.
The kind of man who always thinks that he is right, that his opinions, his pronouncements, are the final word, when once exposed shows nothing there. But a wise man has much to learn without a loss of dignity.
How dreadful knowledge of the truth can be
When there's no help in truth!
Grief teaches the steadiest minds to waver.
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.
No man loves life like him that's growing old.
A mind at peace does not engender wars.
The greatest griefs are those we cause ourselves.
Variant: The keenest sorrow is to recognize ourselves as the sole cause of all our adversities.
What you cannot enforce, do not command.
Each one of us must live the life God gives him; it cannot be shirked.
When an oath is taken ... the mind is more attentive; for it guards against two things, the reproach of friends and offence against the gods.
Whoever grows angry amid troubles applies a drug worse than the disease and is a physician unskilled about misfortunes.
War never takes a wicked man by chance, the good man always.
