Sophocles

Quotes

1. Think not that thy word, and thine alone, must be right.

   p. 97

2. 

   Numberless are the world's wonders, but none

   More wonderful than man.

   p. 62

3. 

   All men are liable to err; but when an error hath been made, that man is no longer witless or unblest who heals the ill into which he hath fallen, and remains not stubborn.

4. 

   For whoso lives, as I, in many woes,

   How can it be but death shall bring him gain?

   p. 445

5. 

   Grief teaches the steadiest minds to waver.

6. 

   Wisdom outweighs any wealth.

7. 

   Happy are they who know not the taste of evil.

8. 

   Nothing so evil as money ever grew to be current among men. This lays cities low, this drives men from their homes, this trains and warps honest souls till they set themselves to works of shame; this still teaches folk to practise villainies, and to know every godless deed. But all the men who wrought this thing for hire have made it sure that, soon or late, they shall pay the price.

9. 

   For God hates utterly

   The bray of bragging tongues.

10. 

    ΚΡ. καὶ δῆτ᾿ ἐτόλμας τούσδ᾿ ὑπερβαίνειν νόμους;

    ΑΝ. οὐ γάρ τί μοι Ζεὺς ἦν ὁ κηρύξας τάδε,

    οὐδ᾿ ἡ ξύνοικος τῶν κάτω θεῶν Δίκη

    τοιούσδ᾿ ἐν ἀνθρώποισιν ὥρισεν νόμους,

    οὐδὲ σθένειν τοσοῦτον ᾠόμην τὰ σὰ

    κηρύγμαθ᾿ ὥστ᾿ ἄγραπτα κἀσφαλῆ θεῶν

    νόμιμα δύνασθαι θνητά γ᾿ ὄνθ᾿ ὑπερδραμεῖν.

    οὐ γάρ τι νῦν γε κἀχθές, ἀλλ᾿ ἀεί ποτε

    ζῇ ταῦτα, κοὐδεὶς οἶδεν ἐξ ὅτου ᾿φάνη.

11. 

    : And thou didst indeed dare to transgress that law?

    : Yes; for it was not Zeus that had published me that edict; not such are the laws set among men by the justice who dwells with the gods below; nor deemed I that thy decrees were of such force, that a mortal could override the unwritten and unfailing statutes of heaven. For their life is not of to-day or yesterday, but from all time, and no man knows when they were first put forth.

That’s all the quotes.

11 quotes in the collection · come back when we add more