Sophocles Quotes (-496--405)


About Sophocles

Sophocles (Greek: ÎŁÎżÏ†ÎżÎșÎ»áż†Ï‚; c. 497/496 – winter 406/405 BC) was an ancient Greek tragedian known as one of three from whom at least two plays have survived in full. His first plays were written later than, or contemporary with, those of Aeschylus and earlier than, or contemporary with, those of Euripides.

Best Sophocles Quotes

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Explore our curated collection of the most famous and impactful Sophocles quotes.

“Time eases all things.”
“A lie never lives to be old.”
Sophocles
“The dice of Zeus fall ever luckily.”
Sophocles
“No oath can be too binding for a lover.”
“If ills you do, ills also you must bear.”
“Nobody likes the man who brings bad news.”
“A short saying often contains much wisdom.”
Sophocles
“War loves to seek its victims in the young.”
“The truth is always the strongest argument.”
Sophocles
“Heaven ne'er helps the men who will not act.”
Sophocles
“Children are the anchors of a mother's life.”
Sophocles
“Thoughts are mightier than strength of hand.”
Sophocles
“In a just cause the weak o'ercome the strong.”
“No man loves life like him that's growing old.”
“Happy are they who know not the taste of evil.”
Sophocles
“Fortune is not on the side of the faint-hearted.”
Sophocles
“The greatest griefs are those we cause ourselves.”
“It is better not to live at all than to live disgraced.”
“Of all human ills, greatest is fortune's wayward tyranny.”
“I will never reveal my dreadful secrets, or rather, yours.”
“Grief teaches the steadiest minds to waver.”
Sophocles
“Money! There's nothing in the world so demoralizing as money.”
Sophocles
“If I am Sophocles, I am not mad; and if I am mad, I am not Sophocles.”
Sophocles
“Death is not the worst evil, but rather when we wish to die and cannot.”
Sophocles
“For God hates utterly
The bray of bragging tongues.
”
Sophocles

Sophocles Quotes by Topic

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Sophocles on Time 4 quotes

“Time eases all things.”
Sophocles
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Sophocles on Lying 2 quotes

“A lie never lives to be old.”
Sophocles
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Sophocles on Silence 2 quotes

“Woman, to women silence is the best ornament.”
Sophocles
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Sophocles on Friendship 2 quotes

“For whoever knows how to return a kindness he has received must be a friend above all price.”
Sophocles
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Sophocles on Sensibility

“To touch the quick.”
Sophocles

Sophocles on Oaths

“I write a woman's oaths in water.”
Sophocles

Sophocles on Thought

“Quick thinkers are not safe ones.”
Sophocles

Sophocles on Enemies

“No enemy is worse than bad advice.”
Sophocles

Sophocles on Favors

“Unwanted favours gain no gratitude.”

Sophocles on Anarchism

“There is no greater evil than anarchy.”
Sophocles

Sophocles on Wisdom

“A short saying oft contains much wisdom.”
Sophocles

Sophocles on Cheating

“No treaty is ever an impediment to a cheat.”
Sophocles

What Sophocles Said About Others

Discover personal opinions Sophocles shared regarding contemporaries.

Sophocles on Euripides

“Account no man happy till he dies.”
Sophocles

Quotes About Sophocles

Gain deeper perspective through quotes about Sophocles from others.

Matthew Arnold on Sophocles 2 quotes

“Be his My special thanks, whose even-balanced soul From first youth tested up to extreme old age Business could not make dull, nor passion wild; Who saw life steadily, and saw it whole; The mellow glory of the Attic stage, Singer of sweet Colonus, and its child.”
Sophocles
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Edmund Gosse on Sophocles

“... Sophocles, the poet loved and feared, Whose mighty voice once called out of her lair The Dorian muse severe, with braided hair, Who loved the thyrsus and wild dances weird.”
Sophocles

Thomas Babington Macaulay on Sophocles 3 quotes

“The first part of the Ajax is prodigiously fine. I do not know that the agonies of wounded honour have ever been so sublimely represented... But the interest of the piece dies with Ajax. In the debates which follow, Sophocles does not succeed as well as Euripides would have done. The odes, too, are not very good.”
Sophocles
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About Sophocles

Sophocles (Greek: ÎŁÎżÏ†ÎżÎșÎ»áż†Ï‚; c. 497/496 – winter 406/405 BC) was an ancient Greek tragedian known as one of three from whom at least two plays have survived in full. His first plays were written later than, or contemporary with, those of Aeschylus and earlier than, or contemporary with, those of Euripides.