Sophocles Quotes

Many things are formidable, and none more formidable than man.

Even from the first it is meek to seek the impossible.

False words do not bring forth fruit.

I would rather miss the mark acting well than win the day acting basely.

Nobly to live, or else nobly to die,Befits proud birth.

One thinking it is right to speak all things, whether the word is fit for speech or unutterable.

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

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

One must wait until the evening to see how splendid the day has been.

A lie never grows old.

Sister - if all this is true, what could I do or undo?

A soul that is kind and intends justice discovers more than any sophist

Prefiero, señor, obrar bien y fracasar, antes que triunfar con malas artes.Palabras de Neoptólemo a Odiseo, en la tragedia griega Filoctetes.

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.

Those swift to think are not always secure.

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

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

But if I am young, thou shouldest look to my merits, not to my years.

If you try to cure evil with evilyou will add more pain to your fate.

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

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

I have seen or heard of no other man whom destiny treated with such enmity as it did Philoktetes

It is not in words that I should wish my life to be distinguished, but rather in things done.

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

I could not turn away from anyone Like you, a stranger, or refuse to help him. I know well, being mortal, that my claimUpon the future is no more than yours.

I have been a stranger here in my own land: All my life

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.

The tyrant is a child of PrideWho drinks from his sickening cup Recklessness and vanity, Until from his high crest headlongHe plummets to the dust of hope.

I am determined that never, if I can help it, Shall evil triumph over good." - Creon

A sight to touch e’en hatred’s self with pity.

The only crime is pride.

There is no greater evil than men's failure to consult and to consider.

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.

Thou wouldst make a good monarch of a desert

For Time calls only once, and that determines all.

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.

In a just cause the weak will beat the strong!

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.

Alas! How sad when reasoners reason wrong.

It is but sorrow to be wise when wisdom profits not.

There is much that is strange, but nothing that surpasses man in strangeness

Thy life is safe while any god saves mine.

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.

We long to have again the vanished past, in spite of all its pain.

There was the girl, screaming like an angry bird, When it finds its nest left empt and little ones gone." - Sentry

Heaven ne'er helps the man who will not help himself.

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

Rather throw away that which is dearest to you your own life than turn away a good friend.

When a man has lost all happiness he's not alive. Call him a breathing corpse.

Best to live lightly unthinkingly.