Sophocles Quotations | Page 2

To give birth is a fearsome thing; there is no hating the child one has borne even when injured by it.

Whoever thinks his friend more important than his country, I rate him nowhere.

To live without evil belongs only to the gods.

For those whose wit becomes the mother of villainy, those it educates to be evil in all things.

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

Much wisdom often goes with brevity of speech.

One learns by doing the thing; for though you think you know it, you have no certainty until you try

I would prefer even to fail with honor than to win by cheating

No man loves life like him that's growing old.

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

None loves the messenger who brings bad news.

Remember there is no success without hard work.

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

Whenever the deity contrives misfortunes for a man, he first harms their understanding.

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

For the gods, though slow to see, see well, whenever a man casting aside worship turns folly.

Fortune never helps the fainthearted.

Having advanced to the limit of boldness, child, you have stumbled against the lofty pedestal of Justice.

Each say following another, either hastening or putting off our death--what pleasure does it bring? I count that man worthless whois cheered by empty hopes. No, a noble man must either live or die well.

To many men much-wandering hope comes as a boon, but to many others it is the deception of vain desires.

Heap up great wealth in your house, if you wish, and live as a tyrant, but, if the enjoyment of these things be lacking, I would not buy the rest for the shadow of smoke as against happiness.

There is an ancient saying, famous among men, that thou shouldst not judge fully of a man's life before he dieth, whether it should be called blest or wretched.

The joy that comes past hope and beyond expectation is like no other pleasure in extent.

If you are out of trouble, watch for danger.

Opinions have greater power than strength of hands.

They are not wise, then, who stand forth to buffet against Love; for Love rules the gods as he will, and me.

Hope has often caused the love of gain to ruin men.

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

One must obey the man whom the city sets up in power in small things and in justice and in its opposite.

You see how when rivers are swollen in winter those trees that yield to the flood retain their branches, but those that offer resistance perish, trunk and all.

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

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.

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

And if my present actions strike you as foolish, let's just say I've been accused of folly by a fool.

No yield to the dead! Never stab the fighter when he's down. Where's the glory, killing the dead twice over?

Know'st not whate'er we do is done in love?

How terrible it is to have wisdom when it does not benefit those who have it.

A trifle is often pregnant with high importance; the prudent man neglects no circumstance.

Best to live lightly, unthinkingly.

Wonders are many, and none is more wonderful than man; the power that crosses the white sea, driven by the stormy wind, making a path under surges that threaten to engulf him...

You can kill a man but you cant kill a idea.

Oh death, death, why do you never come to me thus summoned always day by day?

To err from the right path is common to mankind.

Sleep, ignorant of pain, sleep, ignorant of grief, may you come to us blowing softly, kindly, kindly come king.

Heaven ne'er helps the men who will not act.

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

Men's minds are given to change in hate and friendship.

Who feels no ills, should, therefore, fear them; and when fortune smiles, be doubly cautious, lest destruction come remorseless on him, and he fall unpitied.

Nobody likes the bringer of bad news.

We must wait until the evening to see how splendid the day had been.

Surely, to think your own the only wisdom, and yours the only word, the only will, betrays a shallow spirit, an empty heart.

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

To those who err in judgment, not in will, anger is gentle.

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

Of no mortal say, 'That man is happy,' till vexed by no grievous ill he pass Life's goal.

A broad-backed ox can be driven straight on his road even by a small goad.

The tyrant is a child of pride.

Zeus detests above all the boasts of a proud tongue.

The dice of Zeus always fall luckily.

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

Let a man nobly live or nobly die.

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

Many the wonders but nothing walks stranger than man.

Not knowing anything is the sweetest life.

There is no happiness where there is no wisdom.

Astronomy? Impossible to understand and madness to investigate.

Do not believe that you alone can be right.The man who thinks that,The man who maintains that only he has the powerTo reason correctly, the gift to speak, the soul-A man like that, when you know him, turns out empty.

What men have seen they know. . . .

War loves to seek its victims in the young.

Remember, nothing succeeds without toil.

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

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

No honest man will argue on every side

Silence gives the proper grace to women

Let be the future: mind the present need and leave the rest to whom the rest concerns ... present tasks claim our care: the ordering of the future rests where it should rest.

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

To never have been born may be the greatest boon of all.

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

As they say of the blind, Sounds are the things I see.

More men come to doom through dirty profits than are kept by them.

Laziness is the mother of all evils.

Ill-gotten gains work evil.

To him who is afraid, everything rustles.

An enemy's gift is ruinous and no gift.

What men have seen they know; But what shall come hereafter No man before the event can see, Nor what end waits for him.

Kindness it is that brings forth kindness always.

It is God's giving if we laugh or weep.

I cannot love a friend whose love is words.

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

Afterthought makes the first resolve a liar.

It is always fair sailing, when you escape evil.

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

Even the bold will fly when they see Death drawing in close enough to end their life.

Why should man fear since chance is all in all for him, and he can clearly foreknow nothing? Best to live lightly, as one can, unthinkingly.

A man who deals in fairness with his own, he can make manifest justice in the state.

If they are just, they are better than clever.

A man who takes pleasure in speaking continuously fools himself in thinking he is not unpleasant to those around him.

Truth hates delay. (Veritas odit moras.)

Kindness will always attract kindness.

Desire looks clear from the eyes of a lovely bride: power as strong as the founded world