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Home
Authors
Sophocles
Greek
Poet
About the author
Reason is God's crowning gift to man.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#God
#Reason
#Man
Silence is an ornament for women.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Women
#Silence
The gods plant reason in mankind, of all good gifts the highest.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Reason
#Mankind
#Gods
#Gifts
The keenest sorrow is to recognize ourselves as the sole cause of all our adversities.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Cause
#Sorrow
The rewards of virtue alone abide secure.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Virtue
One word frees us of all the weight and pain in life. That word is love.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Life
#Love
#Word
#Weight
#Pain
Much wisdom often goes with fewest words.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Words
#Wisdom
The oaths of a woman I inscribe on water.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Woman
#Water
No treaty is ever an impediment to a cheat.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
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.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Men
#Money
#Mankind
#Deeds
#Cities
Much speech is one thing, well-timed speech is another.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Speech
Trust dies but mistrust blossoms.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Trust
#Mistrust
No enemy is worse than bad advice.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Enemy
#Advice
There is a point at which even justice does injury.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Justice
#Injury
No man loves the bearer of bad tidings.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Man
No one longs to live more than someone growing old.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Old
No lie ever reaches old age.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Old
#Age
#Lie
No speech can stain what is noble by nature.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Nature
#Speech
One who knows how to show and to accept kindness will be a friend better than any possession.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Will
#Friend
#Kindness
#Possession
Not all things are to be discovered; many are better concealed.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
Not even Ares battles against necessity.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Necessity
Not even old age knows how to love death.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Love
#Death
#Old
#Age
Not knowing anything is the sweetest life.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Life
Not to be born is, past all prizing, best.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Past
Now I see that going out into the testing ground of men it is the tongue and not the deed that wins the day.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Now
#Day
#Men
#Tongue
#Testing
#Deed
Old age and the passage of time teach all things.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Time
#Old
#Age
No one who errs unwillingly is evil.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Evil
Wisdom is the supreme part of happiness.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Wisdom
#Happiness
To him who is in fear everything rustles.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Fear
Whoever gets up and comes to grips with Love like a boxer is a fool.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Love
#Fool
Whoever grows angry amid troubles applies a drug worse than the disease and is a physician unskilled about misfortunes.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Disease
Whoever lives among many evils just as I, how can dying not be a source of gain?
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Gain
#Dying
Whoever neglects the arts when he is young has lost the past and is dead to the future.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Past
#Future
Whoever thinks his friend more important than his country, I rate him nowhere.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Country
#Friend
When trouble ends even troubles please.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Trouble
Whoever understands how to do a kindness when he fares well would be a friend better than any possession.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Friend
#Kindness
#Possession
When a man has lost all happiness, he's not alive. Call him a breathing corpse.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Man
#Happiness
Wisdom outweighs any wealth.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Wisdom
#Wealth
Wise thinkers prevail everywhere.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
Without labor nothing prospers.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Nothing
#Labor
You should not consider a man's age but his acts.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Man
#Age
You win the victory when you yield to friends.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Friends
#Yield
#Victory
He who throws away a friend is as bad as he who throws away his life.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Life
#Friend
Men should pledge themselves to nothing; for reflection makes a liar of their resolution.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Nothing
#Men
#Reflection
#Resolution
Whoever thinks that he alone has speech, or possesses speech or mind above others, when unfolded such men are seen to be empty.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Men
#Mind
#Speech
Things gained through unjust fraud are never secure.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Fraud
There is an ancient saying among men that you cannot thoroughly understand the life of mortals before the man has died, then only can you call it good or bad.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Life
#Saying
#Man
#Men
There is no greater evil for men than the constraint of fortune.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Evil
#Men
#Fortune
There is no greater evil than anarchy.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Evil
#Anarchy
There is no sense in crying over spilt milk. Why bewail what is done and cannot be recalled?
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Sense
There is no success without hardship.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Success
#Hardship
There is no witness so terrible and no accuser so powerful as conscience which dwells within us.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Conscience
Who seeks shall find.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
There is some pleasure even in words, when they bring forgetfulness of present miseries.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Words
#Present
#Pleasure
#Forgetfulness
There is a time when even justice brings harm.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Time
#Justice
#Harm
Those whose life is long still strive for gain, and for all mortals all things take second place to money.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Life
#Money
#Gain
Time alone reveals the just man; but you might discern a bad man in a single day.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Time
#Day
#Man
To be doing good deeds is man's most glorious task.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Man
#Deeds
To give birth is a fearsome thing; there is no hating the child one has borne even when injured by it.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
To live without evil belongs only to the gods.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Evil
#Gods
War never takes a wicked man by chance, the good man always.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Chance
#War
#Man
What house, bloated with luxury, ever became prosperous without a woman's excellence?
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Luxury
#Woman
#Excellence
There is nothing more hateful than bad advice.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Nothing
#Advice
Even a poor man can receive honors.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Man
#Poor
For those whose wit becomes the mother of villainy, those it educates to be evil in all things.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Evil
#Mother
#Wit
#Villainy
But this is a true saying among men: the gifts of enemies are no gifts and profitless.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Saying
#Enemies
#Gifts
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.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Children
#Enemies
#Laughter
Children are the anchors of a mother's life.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Life
#Children
#Mother
Despair often breeds disease.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Disease
#Despair
Do not grieve yourself too much for those you hate, nor yet forget them utterly.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Forget
#Hate
Best to live lightly, unthinkingly.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
Enemies' gifts are no gifts and do no good.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Enemies
#Gifts
Bear up, my child, bear up; Zeus who oversees and directs all things is still mighty in heaven.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Heaven
Evil counsel travels fast.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Evil
Success is dependent on effort.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Success
#Effort
The dice of Zeus always fall luckily.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
Foolishness is indeed the sister of wickedness.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Sister
#Foolishness
#Wickedness
Rather fail with honor than succeed by fraud.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Honor
#Succeed
#Fraud
Our happiness depends on wisdom all the way.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Wisdom
#Happiness
There are some who praise a man free from disease; to me no man who is poor seems free from disease but to be constantly sick.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Man
#Poor
#Disease
#Praise
Reverence does not die with mortals, nor does it perish whether they live or die.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
Profit is sweet, even if it comes from deception.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Profit
#Deception
Quick decisions are unsafe decisions.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Decisions
#Quick
For death is not the worst, but when one wants to die and is not able even to have that.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Death
For shameful deeds are taught by shameful deeds.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Deeds
For the dead there are no more toils.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
For the wretched one night is like a thousand; for someone faring well death is just one more night.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Death
#Night
Don't you know that silence supports the accuser's charge?
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Silence
A wise doctor does not mutter incantations over a sore that needs the knife.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Needs
A day lays low and lifts up again all human things.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Day
A fearful man is always hearing things.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Man
#Hearing
A human being is only breath and shadow.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Being
#Shadow
A lie never lives to be old.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Old
#Lie
A man growing old becomes a child again.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Man
#Old
A short saying often contains much wisdom.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Saying
#Wisdom
Better not to exist than live basely.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
A state is not a state if it belongs to one man.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#State
#Man
Evil gains work their punishment.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Work
#Evil
#Punishment
A wise man does not chatter with one whose mind is sick.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Man
#Mind
A word does not frighten the man who, in acting, feels no fear.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Acting
#Fear
#Man
#Word
Alas, how quickly the gratitude owed to the dead flows off, how quick to be proved a deceiver.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Quick
#Gratitude
All a man's affairs become diseased when he wishes to cure evils by evils.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Man
#Cure
#Wishes
All is disgust when a man leaves his own nature and does what is unfit.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Man
#Nature
#Disgust
Always desire to learn something useful.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Desire
A soul that is kind and intends justice discovers more than any sophist.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Justice
#Soul
It is the task of a good man to help those in misfortune.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Man
#Help
#Misfortune
If you were to offer a thirsty man all wisdom, you would not please him more than if you gave him a drink.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Man
#Wisdom
Ignorant men don't know what good they hold in their hands until they've flung it away.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Men
In a just cause the weak will beat the strong.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Will
#Cause
Isn't it the sweetest mockery to mock our enemies?
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Enemies
Fortune cannot aid those who do nothing.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Nothing
#Fortune
It is best to live however one can be.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
If you have done terrible things, you must endure terrible things; for thus the sacred light of injustice shines bright.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Light
#Injustice
It is the merit of a general to impart good news, and to conceal the truth.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Truth
#News
#Merit
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.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#People
#Fear
#State
#Man
#Laws
It was my care to make my life illustrious not by words more than by deeds.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Life
#Words
#Care
#Deeds
It's a terrible thing to speak well and be wrong.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Wrong
It's impossible to speak what it is not noble to do.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
Kindness is ever the begetter of kindness.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Kindness
Look and you will find it - what is unsought will go undetected.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Will
Man is not constituted to take pleasure in the same things always.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Man
#Pleasure
Men may know many things by seeing; but no prophet can see before the event, nor what end waits for him.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#End
#May
#Men
Every man can see things far off but is blind to what is near.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Man
#Blind
Gratitude to gratitude always gives birth.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Gratitude
It is terrible to speak well and be wrong.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Wrong
God's dice always have a lucky roll.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#God
If we are to keep our democracy, there must be one commandment: "Thou shalt not ration justice."
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Democracy
#Justice
Men of ill judgment ignore the good that lies within their hands, till they have lost it.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Men
#Judgment
#Lies
Hide nothing, for time, which sees all and hears all, exposes all.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Time
#Nothing
How dreadful knowledge of the truth can be when there's no help in the truth.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Help
#Truth
#Knowledge
How sweet for those faring badly to forget their misfortunes even for a short time.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Time
#Forget
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.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Man
#Men
#Future
#Fortune
I see that all of us who live are nothing but images or insubstantial shadow.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Nothing
#Shadow
I see the state of all of us who live, nothing more than phantoms or a weightless shadow.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Nothing
#State
#Shadow
I would prefer even to fail with honor than win by cheating.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Honor
#Cheating
I would rather miss the mark acting well than win the day acting basely.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Acting
#Day
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.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Cure
#Gold
#Tears
#Weeping
If my body is enslaved, still my mind is free.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Mind
#Body
If one begins all deeds well, it is likely that they will end well too.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Will
#End
#Deeds
Hush! Check those words. Do not cure ill with ill and make your pain still heavier than it is.
Sophocles,
Greek
Poet
#Words
#Pain
#Cure