Sophocles
FameRank: 8

"Sophocles" is one of three classical Greece/ancient Greek tragedy/tragedians whose plays have survived. His first plays were written later than those of Aeschylus, and earlier than or contemporary with those of Euripides. According to the Suda, a 10th-century encyclopedia, Sophocles wrote 123 plays during the course of his life, but only seven have survived in a complete form: Ajax (Sophocles)/Ajax, Antigone (Sophocles)/Antigone, The Trachiniae/The Women of Trachis, Oedipus the King, Electra (Sophocles)/Electra, Philoctetes (Sophocles)/Philoctetes and Oedipus at Colonus. For almost 50 years, Sophocles was the most-fĂȘted playwright in the dramatic competitions of the Polis/city-state of Classical Athens/Athens that took place during the religious festivals of the Lenaea and the City Dionysia/Dionysia. He competed in around 30 competitions, won perhaps 24, and was never judged lower than second place. Aeschylus won 14 competitions, and was sometimes defeated by Sophocles, while Euripides won only 4 competitions.

If you enjoy these quotes, be sure to check out other famous poets! More Sophocles on Wikipedia.

A short saying oft contains much wisdom.

There is no happiness where there is no wisdom;No wisdom but in submission to the gods.Big words are always punished,And proud men in old age learn to be wise.

To him who is in fear everything rustles.

To revive sorrow is cruel.

Knowledge must come through action; you can have no test which is not fanciful, save by trial.

Numberless are the world's wonders, but noneMore wonderful than man.

O generations of men, how I count you as equal with those who live not at all!

The good befriend themselves.

How dreadful it is when the right judge judges wrong!

There is no success without hardship.

No man loves life like him that's growing old.

Nobody has a more sacred obligation to obey the law than those who make the law.

He who throws away a friend is as bad as he who throws away his life.

Success is dependent on effort.

Grief teaches the steadiest minds to waver.

The man the state has put in place must have obedient hearing to his least command when it is right, and even when it's not.

Show me the man who keeps his house in hand,He's fit for public authority.

Men of ill judgment oft ignore the goodThat lies within their hands, till they have lost it.

Though a man be wise it is no shame for him to live and learn.

What you cannot enforce, do not command.

A prudent mind can see room for misgiving, lest he who prospers would one day suffer reverse.

Death is not the worst thing; rather, when one who craves death cannot attain even that wish.

Of all human ills, greatest is fortune's wayward tyranny.

Ignorant men don't know what good they hold in their hands until they've flung it away.

Wisdom outweighs any wealth.

Money: There's nothing in the world so demoralizing as money.

Death is not the worst; rather, in vainTo wish for death, and not to compass it.

Rash indeed is he who reckons on the morrow, or haply on days beyond it; for tomorrow is not, until today is past.

Time eases all things.

Nobody likes the man who brings bad news.

I have nothing but contempt for the kind of governor who is afraid, for whatever reason, to follow the course that he knows is best for the State; and as for the man who sets private friendship above the public welfare - I have no use for him either.

For God hates utterlyThe bray of bragging tongues.

Truly, to tell lies is not honorable;but when the truth entails tremendous ruin,To speak dishonorably is pardonable.

One word frees us of all the weight and pain of life: That word is love.

The end excuses any evil.

How dreadful knowledge of the truth can beWhen there's no help in truth!

Children are the anchors that hold a mother to life.

The keenest sorrow is to recognize ourselves as the sole cause of all our adversities.

Much speech is one thing, well-timed speech is another.

The ideal conditionWould be, I admit, that men should be right by instinct;But since we are all likely to go astray,The reasonable thing is to learn from those who can teach.

Stranger in a strange country.

How terrible it is to have wisdom when it does not benefit those who have it.

It is not righteousness to outrageA brave man dead, not even though you hate him.

Reason is God's crowning gift to man.

Quick decisions are unsafe decisions.

It made our hair stand up in panic fear.

Death is not the greatest of evils; it is worse to want to die, and not be able to.

Who feels no ills, should, therefore, fear them; and when fortune smiles, be doubly cautious, lest destruction come remorseless on him, and he fall unpitied.

The greatest griefs are those we cause ourselves.