“For the dead there are no more toils.”
Source: Sophocles II: Ajax, The Women of Trachis, Electra, Philoctetes, The Trackers
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Famous Sophocles Quotes
“Death is not the greatest of evils; it is worse to want to die, and not be able to.”
“Much speech is one thing, well-timed speech is another.”
Source: The Tragedies of Sophocles: A New Trans., with a Biographical Essay, and an Appendix of Rhymed Choral Odes and Lyrical Dialogues
“A mind at peace does not engender wars.”
Source: The Oedipus plays of Sophocles: Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, Antigone
“War never takes a wicked man by chance, the good man always.”
“Men of ill judgment ignore the good that lies within their hands, till they have lost it.”
Source: 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
“The gods plant reason in mankind, of all good gifts the highest.”
Source: Antigone
“Our happiness depends on wisdom all the way.”
Source: Sophocles I: Antigone, Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus
Source: Tragedies
“Money: There's nothing in the world so demoralizing as money.”
Source: The Oedipus Cycle: An English Version
“There is a point beyond which even justice becomes unjust.”
Source: Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, Antigone
“How dreadful knowledge of the truth can be when there's no help in truth!”
Source: The Oedipus Cycle: An English Version
Source: Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, Antigone
“Kindness begets kindness evermore.”
Source: 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
“Reason is God's crowning gift to man.”
Source: The Antigone of Sophocles: An English Version by Dudley Fitts and Robert Fitzgerald
“Whoever gets up and comes to grips with Love like a boxer is a fool.”
Source: 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
“For God hates utterly the bray of bragging tongues.”
Source: The Antigone of Sophocles: An English Version by Dudley Fitts and Robert Fitzgerald
“Hide nothing, for time, which sees all and hears all, exposes all.”
“To throw awayan honest friend is, as it were, to throw your life away.”
Source: Sophocles I: Antigone, Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus
“You win the victory when you yield to friends.”
Source: Sophocles II: Ajax, The Women of Trachis, Electra, Philoctetes, The Trackers
“Do nothing secretly; for Time sees and hears all things, and discloses all.”
Source: The Oedipus plays of Sophocles: Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, Antigone
“If you try to cure evil with evil you will add more pain to your fate.”
Source: The Complete Sophocles: Volume II: Electra and Other Plays
Source: The Theban Plays: King Oedipus, Oedipus at Colonus [and] Antigone
“I have no desire to suffer twice, in reality and then in retrospect.”
Source: The Oedipus plays of Sophocles: Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, Antigone
“Time, which sees all things, has found you out.”
Source: Oedipus the King
“I was born to join in love, not hate - that is my nature.”
Source: The Three Theban Plays: Antigone; Oedipus the King; Oedipus at Colonus
“Tomorrow is tomorrow. Future cares have future cures, And we must mind today.”
Source: The Oedipus Plays of Sophocles
“When I have tried and failed, I shall have failed.”
Source: The Theban Plays: King Oedipus, Oedipus at Colonus [and] Antigone