Famous Sophocles Quotations

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"Much speech is one thing, well-timed speech is another."
by Sophocles
"A day lays low and lifts up again all human things."
by Sophocles
"A human being is only breath and shadow."
by Sophocles
"To be doing good deeds is man's most glorious task."
by Sophocles
"Whoever lives among many evils just as I, how can dying not be a source of gain?"
by Sophocles
"Wisdom is the supreme part of happiness."
by Sophocles
"For death is not the worst, but when one wants to die and is not able even to have that."
by Sophocles
"Ignorant men don't know what good they hold in their hands until they've flung it away."
by Sophocles
"If my body is enslaved, still my mind is free."
by Sophocles
"It is best to live however one can be."
by Sophocles
"It is terrible to speak well and be wrong."
by Sophocles
"Man is not constituted to take pleasure in the same things always."
by Sophocles
"Not even old age knows how to love death."
by Sophocles
"Men of ill judgment ignore the good that lies within their hands, till they have lost it."
by Sophocles
"Our happiness depends on wisdom all the way."
by Sophocles
"I see the state of all of us who live, nothing more than phantoms or a weightless shadow."
by Sophocles
"I see that all of us who live are nothing but images or insubstantial shadow."
by Sophocles
"In a just cause the weak will beat the strong."
by Sophocles
"For money, you would sell your soul."
by Sophocles
"For the wretched one night is like a thousand; for someone faring well death is just one more night."
by Sophocles
"A short saying often contains much wisdom."
by Sophocles
"Enemies' gifts are no gifts and do no good."
by Sophocles Sophocles
"Better not to exist than live basely."
by Sophocles
"A fearful man is always hearing things."
by Sophocles
"A lie never lives to be old."
by Sophocles
"A man growing old becomes a child again."
by Sophocles
"A prudent mind can see room for misgiving, lest he who prospers would one day suffer reverse."
by Sophocles
"A state is not a state if it belongs to one man."
by Sophocles
"A soul that is kind and intends justice discovers more than any sophist."
by Sophocles
"A short saying oft contains much wisdom."
by Sophocles
"A wise man does not chatter with one whose mind is sick."
by Sophocles
"A wise doctor does not mutter incantations over a sore that needs the knife."
by Sophocles
"A word does not frighten the man who, in acting, feels no fear."
by Sophocles
"All a man's affairs become diseased when he wishes to cure evils by evils."
by Sophocles
"Alas, how quickly the gratitude owed to the dead flows off, how quick to be proved a deceiver."
by Sophocles
"All is disgust when a man leaves his own nature and does what is unfit."
by Sophocles
"Always desire to learn something useful."
by Sophocles
"Bear up, my child, bear up; Zeus who oversees and directs all things is still mighty in heaven."
by Sophocles
"Best to live lightly, unthinkingly."
by Sophocles
"But this is a true saying among men: the gifts of enemies are no gifts and profitless."
by Sophocles
"But whoever gives birth to useless children, what would you say of him except that he has bred sorrows for himself, and furnishes laughter for his enemies."
by Sophocles
"Children are the anchors of a mother's life."
by Sophocles
"Death is not the worst; rather, in vain
To wish for death, and not to compass it."
by Sophocles
"Death is not the worst thing; rather, when one who craves death cannot attain even that wish."
by Sophocles
"Death is not the worst thing rather, when one who craves death cannot attain even that wish."
by Sophocles
"Death is not the worst rather, in vain To wish for death, and not to compass it."
by Sophocles
"Despair often breeds disease."
by Sophocles
"Do not grieve yourself too much for those you hate, nor yet forget them utterly."
by Sophocles
"Don't you know that silence supports the accuser's charge?"
by Sophocles
"Even a poor man can receive honors."
by Sophocles
"Every man can see things far off but is blind to what is near."
by Sophocles
"Evil gains work their punishment."
by Sophocles
"Evil counsel travels fast."
by Sophocles
"Foolishness is indeed the sister of wickedness."
by Sophocles
"For God hates utterly
The bray of bragging tongues."
by Sophocles
"For God hates utterly The bray of bragging tongues."
by Sophocles
"For the dead there are no more toils."
by Sophocles
"Fortune cannot aid those who do nothing."
by Sophocles
"For those whose wit becomes the mother of villainy, those it educates to be evil in all things."
by Sophocles
"For shameful deeds are taught by shameful deeds."
by Sophocles
"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."
by Sophocles
"God's dice always have a lucky roll."
by Sophocles
"Gratitude to gratitude always gives birth."
by Sophocles
"Grief teaches the steadiest minds to waver."
by Sophocles
"He who throws away a friend is as bad as he who throws away his life."
by Sophocles
"Hide nothing, for time, which sees all and hears all, exposes all."
by Sophocles
"How dreadful knowledge of the truth can be When there's no help in truth"
by Sophocles
"How sweet for those faring badly to forget their misfortunes even for a short time."
by Sophocles
"How dreadful knowledge of the truth can be when there's no help in the truth."
by Sophocles
"How dreadful it is when the right judge judges wrong!"
by Sophocles
"How dreadful it is when the right judge judges wrong"
by Sophocles
"How terrible it is to have wisdom when it does not benefit those who have it."
by Sophocles
"Hush! Check those words. Do not cure ill with ill and make your pain still heavier than it is."
by Sophocles
"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."
by Sophocles
"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."
by Sophocles
"I would rather miss the mark acting well than win the day acting basely."
by Sophocles
"I would prefer even to fail with honor than win by cheating."
by Sophocles
"If it were possible to cure evils by lamentation and to raise the dead with tears, then gold would be a less valuable thing than weeping."
by Sophocles
"If one begins all deeds well, it is likely that they will end well too."
by Sophocles
"If we are to keep our democracy, there must be one commandment: 'Thou shalt not ration justice.'"
by Sophocles
"If you have done terrible things, you must endure terrible things; for thus the sacred light of injustice shines bright."
by Sophocles
"If you were to offer a thirsty man all wisdom, you would not please him more than if you gave him a drink."
by Sophocles
"Isn't it the sweetest mockery to mock our enemies?"
by Sophocles
"It is a base thing for a man among the people not to obey those in command. Never in a state can the laws be well administered when fear does not stand firm."
by Sophocles
"It is not righteousness to outrage
A brave man dead, not even though you hate him."
by Sophocles
"It is not righteousness to outrage A brave man dead, not even though you hate him."
by Sophocles
"It is the merit of a general to impart good news, and to conceal the truth."
by Sophocles
"It is the task of a good man to help those in misfortune."
by Sophocles
"It made our hair stand up in panic fear."
by Sophocles
"It was my care to make my life illustrious not by words more than by deeds."
by Sophocles
"It's a terrible thing to speak well and be wrong."
by Sophocles
"It's impossible to speak what it is not noble to do."
by Sophocles
"Kindness is ever the begetter of kindness."
by Sophocles
"Knowledge must come through action; you can have no test which is not fanciful, save by trial."
by Sophocles
"Knowledge must come through action you can have no test which is not fanciful, save by trial."
by Sophocles
"Look and you will find it - what is unsought will go undetected."
by Sophocles
"Men may know many things by seeing; but no prophet can see before the event, nor what end waits for him."
by Sophocles
"Men should pledge themselves to nothing; for reflection makes a liar of their resolution."
by Sophocles
"Men of perverse opinion do not know the excellence of what is in their hands, till some one dash it from them."
by Sophocles
"Men of ill judgment oft ignore the good
That lies within their hands, till they have lost it."
by Sophocles


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