769 Quotes by Sophocles

When I have tried and failed, I shall have failed.

And if to some my tale seems foolishness I am content that such could count me fool.

Thy life is safe while any god saves mine.

Your edict, King, was strong,But all your strength is weakness itself againstThe immortal unrecorded laws of God.They are not merely now: they were, and shall be,Operative for ever, beyond man utterly.I knew I must die, even without your decree:I am only mortal. And if I must dieNow, before it is my time to die,Surely this is no hardship: can anyoneLiving, as I live, with evil all about me,Think Death less than a friend?

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.

ELECTRA: Oh but my love—now that you have travelled back down all those years to meet my heart, over all this grief of mine, do not oh love—ORESTES: What are you asking?ELECTRA: Do not turn your face from me. Don't take yourself away.

Yes I know sorrow. Know it far too well. My life is a tunnel choked by the sweepings of dread.

Grief teaches the steadiest minds to waver.

Now is no time to delay. This is the edge of action.