Sophocles quotes
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“One word Frees us of all the weight and pain of life: That word is love.”
-- SophoclesSource : "Oedipus at Colonus". Play by Sophocles, Lines 1616-1618,
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“What greater wound is there than a false friend?”
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“Go then if you must, but remember, no matter how foolish your deeds, those who love you will love you still.”
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“All men make mistakes, but a good man yields when he knows his course is wrong, and repairs the evil. The only crime is pride.”
-- SophoclesSource : Sophocles (1977). “The Oedipus Cycle: An English Version”, Harcourt
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“What people believe prevails over the truth.”
-- SophoclesSource : Sophocles, Hugh Lloyd-Jones (1996). “Sophocles: Fragments”, p.37, Harvard University Press
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“Rather fail with honor than succeed by fraud.”
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“No man loves life like him that's growing old.”
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“A word does not frighten the man who, in acting feels no fear.”
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“Time, which sees all things, has found you out.”
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“In a just cause the weak will beat the strong.”
-- SophoclesSource : David Grene, Sophocles (1959). “Sophocles”, [Chicago] : University of Chicago Press
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“I recommend...bread, meat, vegetables, and beer.”
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“A man though wise, should never be ashamed of learning more, and must unbend his mind.”
-- SophoclesSource : David Grene, Sophocles (1959). “Sophocles”, [Chicago] : University of Chicago Press
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“Let men be wise by instinct if they can, but when this fails be wise by good advice.”
-- SophoclesSource : Sophocles, Paul Roche (1991). “The Oedipus plays of Sophocles: Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, Antigone”, Signet
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“Fortune is not on the side of the faint-hearted.”
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“If my body is enslaved, still my mind is free.”
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“It is not righteousness to outrage A brave man dead, not even though you hate him.”
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“It is the task of a good man to help those in misfortune.”
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“Every man can see things far off but is blind to what is near.”
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“Rash indeed is he who reckons on tomorrow, or happily on the days beyond it; for tomorrow is not, until today is past.”
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“And if my present deeds are foolish in thy sight, it may be that a foolish judge arraigns my folly.”
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“There is nothing more hateful than bad advice.”
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“The greatest griefs are those we cause ourselves.”
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“How dreadful it is when the right judge judges wrong!”
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“How sweet for those faring badly to forget their misfortunes even for a short time.”
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“If we always helped one another, no one would need luck.”
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“One who knows how to show and to accept kindness will be a friend better than any possession.”
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“Tomorrow is tomorrow. Future cares have future cures, And we must mind today.”
-- SophoclesSource : Sophocles (1958). “The Oedipus Plays of Sophocles”, Signet
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“The truth is always the strongest argument.”
-- SophoclesSource : "Phædra". Play by Sophocles, Fragment 737,
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“The keenest sorrow is to recognize ourselves as the sole cause of all our adversities.”
-- SophoclesSource : "Oedipus Rex". Play by Sophocles, Line 1184,
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“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.”
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“A state is not a state if it belongs to one man.”
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“Men of ill judgment ignore the good that lies within their hands, till they have lost it.”
-- SophoclesSource : Aeschylus, Sophocles, Eurípides, Aristophanes, Menander (of Athens.) (1938). “The complete Greek drama: all the extant tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, and the comedies of Aristophanes and Menander, in a variety of translations”
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“No more shall ye behold such sights of woe, deeds I have suffered and myself have wrought; henceforward quenched in darkness shall ye see those ye should ne'er have seen; now blind to those whom, when I saw, I vainly yearned to know.”
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“Hide nothing, for time, which sees all and hears all, exposes all.”
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“Fate has terrible power. You cannot escape it by wealth or war. No fort will keep it out, no ships outrun it.”
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“What house, bloated with luxury, ever became prosperous without a woman's excellence?”
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“I have no desire to suffer twice, in reality and then in retrospect.”
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“Do nothing secretly; for Time sees and hears all things, and discloses all.”
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“A wise man does not chatter with one whose mind is sick.”
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“Each one of us must live the life God gives him; it cannot be shirked.”
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“The soul that has conceived one wickedness can nurse no good thereafter.”
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“Dark, dark! The horror of darkness, like a shroud, wraps me and bears me on through mist and cloud.”
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“For whoever knows how to return a kindness he has received must be a friend above all price.”
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“We have only a little time to please the living. But all eternity to love the dead.”
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“Money is the worst currency that ever grew among mankind. This sacks cities, this drives men from their homes, this teaches and corrupts the worthiest minds to turn base deeds.”
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“If you try to cure evil with evil you will add more pain to your fate.”
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“It can be no dishonor to learn from others when they speak good sense.”
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“If one begins all deeds well, it is likely that they will end well too.”
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“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”
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“Knowledge must come through action. You can have no test which is not fanciful, save by trial.”
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“If it were possible to heal sorrow by weeping and to raise the dead with tears, gold were less prized than grief.”
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“Opportunity is the best captain of all endeavor.”
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“You must remember that no one lives a life free from pain and suffering.”
-- SophoclesSource : Sophocles, Peter Meineck, Paul Woodruff (2003). “Theban Plays”, p.204, Hackett Publishing
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“Things gained through unjust fraud are never secure.”
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“It is best not to have been born at all: but, if born, as quickly as possible to return whence one came.”
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“He who throws away a friend is as bad as he who throws away his life.”
-- Sophocles -
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“I would prefer even to fail with honor than win by cheating.”
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“Foolishness is indeed the sister of wickedness.”
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“Men should pledge themselves to nothing; for reflection makes a liar of their resolution.”
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“Much speech is one thing, well-timed speech is another.”
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“You clearly hate to yield, but you will regret it when your anger has passed. Such natures are justly the hardest for themselves to bear.”
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“There is no greater evil for men than the constraint of fortune.”
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“Not to be born surpasses thought and speech. The second best is to have seen the light and then go back quickly whence we came”
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“Deem no man happy until he passes the edo fhis life without suffering grief.”
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“Whom Jupiter would destroy he first drives mad.”
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“Men of perverse opinion do not know the excellence of what is in their hands, till someone dash it from them.”
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“Zeus detests above all the boasts of a proud tongue.”
-- Sophocles -
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