769 Quotes by Sophocles

None but a fool or an infant could forget a father gone so far and cold. No. Lament is a pattern cut and fitted around my mind—like the bird who calls Itys! Itys! endlessly, bird of grief, angel of Zeus. O heartdragging Niobe, I count you a god: buried in rock yet always you weep.

For if any man thinks that he is alone is wise--that in speech, or in mind, he hath no peer--such a soul, when laid open, is ever found empty.

Take these things to heart, my son, I warn you.All men make mistakes, it is only human.But once the wrong is done, a mancan turn his back on folly, misfortune too,if he tries to make amends, however low he's fallen,and stops his bullnecked ways. Stubbornnessbrands you for stupidity - pride is a crime.

But when a god sends harm, no man can sidestep it, no matter how strong he may be.

Reason is God's crowning gift to man, and you are rightTo warn me against losing mine. I cannot say—I hope that I shall never want to say!— that youHave reasoned badly. Yet there are other menWho can reason, too; and their opinions might be helpful.You are not in a position to know everythingThat people say or do, or what they feel:Your temper terrifies them—everyoneWill tell you only what you like to hear.

It is not in words that I should wish my life to be distinguished, but rather in things done.

The powe if fate is something terrible. It cannot be escaped--not with wealth or by war, not with a tower ir a sea-lashed black ship.

We begin in the darkand birth is the death of us

What foolishness it is to desire more life, after one has tastedA bit of it and seen the world; for each day, after each endless day,Piles up ever more misery into a mound. As for pleasures: once weHave passed youth they vanish away, never again to be seen.Death is the end of all.Never to be born is the best thing. To have seen the daylightAnd be swept instantly back into dark oblivion comes second.