Sophocles Quotes

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One word
Frees us of all the weight and pain of life:
That word is love.

Sophocles (Oedipus at Colonus, 401 BCE)

Nothing so evil as money ever grew to be current among men. This lays cities low, this drives men from their homes, this trains and warps honest souls till they set themselves to works of shame; this still teaches folk to practise villainies, and to know every godless deed. But all the men who wrought this thing for hire have made it sure that, soon or late, they shall pay the price.

Sophocles (Antigone)

Tomorrow is tomorrow. 
Future cares have future cures, 
And we must mind today.

Sophocles (Antigone)

The long unmeasured pulse of time moves everything. There is nothing hidden that it cannot bring to light, nothing once known that may not become unknown. Nothing is impossible.

Sophocles (Ajax)

All our mortal lives are set in danger and perplexity: one day to prosper, and the next.. who knows? When all is well, then look for rocks ahead.

Sophocles (Philoctetes, 409 BCE)

Love, unconquerable,
Waster of rich men, keeper
Of warm lights and all-night vigil
In the soft face of a girl:
Sea-wanderer, forest-visitor!
Even the pure immortals cannot escape you,
And mortal man, in his one day's dusk,
Trembles before your glory.

Sophocles (Antigone)

Wisdom is the supreme part of happiness.

Sophocles (Antigone)

Our ship of fate, which recent storms have threatened to destroy, has come safely to harbor at last.

Sophocles (Antigone)

Nothing abides; the starry night, our wealth, our sorrows, pass away.

Sophocles (Trachiniae)

Let men be wise by instinct if they can, but when this fails be wise by good advice.

Sophocles (Antigone)

There is no witness so terrible, no accuser so powerful as conscience which dwells within us.

Sophocles

Whoever lives among many evils just as I, how can dying not be a source of gain? 

Sophocles

The soul that has conceived one wickedness can nurse no good thereafter.

Sophocles (Philoctetes, 409 BCE)

Who seeks shall find.

Sophocles (Oedipus Rex)

Man's highest blessedness,
In wisdom chiefly stands;
And in the things that touch upon the Gods,
'Tis best in word or deed
To shun unholy pride;
Great words of boasting bring great punishments,
And so to grey-haired age
Teach wisdom at the last.

Sophocles (Antigone)

Without labor nothing prospers.

Sophocles (Quoted in The Tragedies of Sophocles, 1880)

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.

Sophocles (Antigone)

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

Sophocles (Philoctetes, 409 BCE)

The ideal condition
Would be, I admit, that men should be right by instinct;
But since we are all likely to go astray,
The reasonable thing is to learn from those who can teach.

Sophocles (Antigone)

Which would you choose if you could: 
pleasure for yourself despite your friends 
or a share in their grief?

Sophocles (Ajax)

Death is not the worst thing; rather, when one who craves death cannot attain even that wish.
Variant: Death is not the worst; rather, in vain, to wish for death, and not to compass it.
Variant: Death is not the greatest of evils; it is worse to want to die, and not be able to.

Sophocles (Electra, ca. 409 BCE)

Wise thinkers prevail everywhere. 

Sophocles (Quoted in The Tragedies of Sophocles, 1880)

Silence has many beauties.

Sophocles (The Sons of Aleus - Fragment)

Wealth makes an ugly person beautiful to look on and an incoherent speech eloquent; and wealth alone can enjoy pleasure even in sickness and can conceal its miseries.

Sophocles (The Sons of Aleus - Fragment)

Stranger in a strange country.

Sophocles (Oedipus at Colonus, 401 BCE)

No other touchstone can test the heart of a man, the temper of his mind and spirit, till he be tried in the practice of authority and rule.

Sophocles (Antigone)

Knowledge must come through action; you can have no test which is not fanciful, save by trial.

Sophocles (Trachiniae)


Sophocles Quote - A man growing old becomes a child again...

A man growing old becomes a child again.

Sophocles (Quoted in Dramas of Sophocles, 2007)

All concerns of men go wrong when they wish to cure evil with evil.

Sophocles (The Sons of Aleus - Fragment)

Look and you will find it - what is unsought will go undetected.

Sophocles

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Sophocles Biography

Born: 496 BCE
Died: 405 BCE

Sophocles was an ancient Greek writer and tragedian. He is mostly known for his plays "Oedipus" and "Antigone", also known as the Theban plays. He has had an great influence on drama throughout history.

Notable Works

Ajax
Antigone
Trachiniae
, or Trachinian Women
Oedipus Rex, or Oedipus the King
Electra
Philoctetes
(409 BCE)
Oedipus at Colonus (401 BCE)

Related Authors
Aeschylus (525 BCE - 456 BCE)
Euripides (480 BCE - 406 BCE)