Sophocles Quotes

Men of perverse opinion do not know the excellence of what is in their hands, till someone dash it from them.

When I have tried and failed, I shall have failed.

In season, all is good.

Strike at a great man, and you will not miss.

What greater ornament to a son than a father's glory, or to a father than a son's honorable conduct?

I write a woman's oaths in water.

Many are the wonders of the world, and none so wonderful as man.

If I am Sophocles, I am not mad; and if I am mad, I am not Sophocles.

For this I see, that we, all we that live, Are but vain shadows, unsubstantial dreams.

If men live decently it is because discipline saves their very lives for them.

But this is a true saying among men: the gifts of enemies are no gifts and profitless.

You would rouse to anger a heart of stone.

The strongest iron, hardened in the fire, most often ends in scraps and shatterings.

If they are just, they are better than clever.

When you can prove me wrong, then call me blind.

What men have seen they know. . . .

A fool cannot be an actor, though an actor may act a fool's part.

Look how men live, always precariously balanced between good and bad fortune.

In a just cause it is right to be confident.

Often have brief words laid men low and then raise them up.

There are times when even justice brings harm with it.

Whoever has a keen eye for profits, is blind in relation to his craft.

True, as unwisdom is the worst of ills

A cunning fellow is man, inventive beyond all expectation, he reaches sometimes evil and sometimes good

Dreadful is the mysterious power of fate; there is no deliverance from it by wealth or by war, by walled city or dark, seabeaten ships.

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

Time is a kindly god.

Not even old age knows how to love death.

No lie ever reaches old age.

Unwanted favours gain no gratitude.

The happiest life is to be without thought

It is better not to live at all than to live disgraced.

Brave hearts do not back down back off.

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

God will not punish the man Who makes return for an injury.

Surely there never was so evil a thing as money, which maketh cities into ruinous heaps, and banisheth men from their houses, and turneth their thoughts from good unto evil.

The good befriend themselves.

Sleep's the only medicine that gives ease.

Now let the weeping cease; Let no one mourn again. These things are in the hands of God.

Whatever God has brought about Is to be borne with courage.

Time is the only test of honest men, one day is space enough to know a rogue.

For kindness begets kindness evermore, But he from whose mind fades the memory Of benefits, noble is he no more.

Not all things are to be discovered; many are better concealed.

It is only great souls that know how much glory there is in being good.

Laws can never be enforced unless fear supports them.

No wound is worse than counterfeited love.

Better to die, and sleep The never-waking sleep, than linger on And dare to live when the soul's life is gone.

Death is not the greatest of evils; it is worse to want to die, and not be able to.

Those whose life is long still strive for gain, and for all mortals all things take second place to money.

The gods love those of ordered soul.