Sophocles

For those whose wit becomes the mother of villainy, those it educates to be evil in all things.

But this is a true saying among men: the gifts of enemies are no gifts and profitless.

No enemy is worse than bad advice.

I see that all of us who live are nothing but images or insubstantial shadow.

Look and you will find it - what is unsought will go undetected.

It's impossible to speak what it is not noble to do.

Not to be born is, past all prizing, best.

Now I see that going out into the testing ground of men it is the tongue and not the deed that wins the day.

If we are to keep our democracy, there must be one commandment: "Thou shalt not ration justice."

It is a painful thing to look at your own trouble and know that you yourself and no one else has made it.

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

There is no witness so terrible and no accuser so powerful as conscience which dwells within us.

No lie ever reaches old age.

Hush! Check those words. Do not cure ill with ill and make your pain still heavier than it is.

Men should pledge themselves to nothing; for reflection makes a liar of their resolution.

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

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.

Kindness gives birth to kindness.

Man is not constituted to take pleasure in the same things always.

Every wind is fare when we are flying from misfortune.

I would prefer even to fail with honor than win by cheating.

A short saying often contains much wisdom.

For the wretched one night is like a thousand; for someone faring well death is just one more night.

No one longs to live more than someone growing old.

It is the task of a good man to help those in misfortune.

No man loves the bearer of bad tidings.

Reason is God's crowning gift to man.

If one begins all deeds well, it is likely that they will end well too.

Every man can see things far off but is blind to what is near.

A man can get a reputation from very small things.

Gratitude to gratitude always gives birth.

Who seeks shall find.

Trust dies but mistrust blossoms.

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.

Much wisdom often goes with fewest words.

To me so deep a silence portends some dread event; a clamorous sorrow wastes itself in sound.

How dreadful knowledge of the truth can be when there's no help in the truth.

For God hates utterly the bray of bragging tongues.

There is no sense in crying over spilt milk. Why bewail what is done and cannot be recalled?

For the dead there are no more toils.

For death is not the worst, but when one wants to die and is not able even to have that.

Our happiness depends on wisdom all the way.

Bear up, my child, bear up; Zeus who oversees and directs all things is still mighty in heaven.

The curse of ignorance is that man without being good or evil is nevertheless satisfied with himself.

Unwanted favours gain no gratitude.

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.

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

The long unmeasured pulse of time moves everything. There is nothing hidden that it cannot bring to light, nothing once known that may not become unknown. Nothing is impossible.

Whoever understands how to do a kindness when he fares well would be a friend better than any possession.

Not even old age knows how to love death.

Whoever thinks his friend more important than his country, I rate him nowhere.

There is a time when even justice brings harm.

There is no greater evil than anarchy.

When a man has lost all happiness, he's not alive. Call him a breathing corpse.

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

All is disgust when a man leaves his own nature and does what is unfit.

Those whose life is long still strive for gain, and for all mortals all things take second place to money.

Quick decisions are unsafe decisions.

Alas, how quickly the gratitude owed to the dead flows off, how quick to be proved a deceiver.

I would rather miss the mark acting well than win the day acting basely.

Wonders are many, and none is more wonderful than the power that crosses the white sea, driven by the stormy wind, making a path under surges that threaten to engulf him

Isn't it the sweetest mockery to mock our enemies?

The soul that has conceived one wickedness can nurse no good thereafter.

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.

Don't you know that silence supports the accuser's charge?

All concerns of men go wrong when they wish to cure evil with evil.

It is terrible to speak well and be wrong.

Whoever thinks that he alone has speech, or possesses speech or mind above others, when unfolded such men are seen to be empty.

Children are the anchors of a mother's life.

Enemies' gifts are no gifts and do no good.

I see the state of all of us who live, nothing more than phantoms or a weightless shadow.

A wise man does not chatter with one whose mind is sick.

The oaths of a woman I inscribe on water.

A wise doctor does not mutter incantations over a sore that needs the knife.

All is disgust when one leaves his own nature and does things that misfit it.

For shameful deeds are taught by shameful deeds.

It was my care to make my life illustrious not by words more than by deeds.

Fortune cannot aid those who do nothing.

Rather fail with honor than succeed by fraud.

A man growing old becomes a child again.

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.

No treaty is ever an impediment to a cheat.

There is no greater evil for men than the constraint of fortune.

Whoever gets up and comes to grips with Love like a boxer is a fool.

A day lays low and lifts up again all human things.

Better not to exist than live basely.

Old age and the passage of time teach all things.

I would prefer even to lose with honor than to win by cheating.

A trifle is often pregnant with high importance; the prudent man neglects no circumstance.

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

To give birth is a fearsome thing; there is no hating the child one has borne even when injured by it.

What house, bloated with luxury, ever became prosperous without a woman's excellence?

Those who jump to conclusions may go wrong.

A soul that is kind and intends justice discovers more than any sophist.

To be doing good deeds is man's most glorious task.

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

To him who is in fear everything rustles.

The greatest griefs are those we cause ourselves.

Afterthought makes the first resolve a liar.

God's dice always have a lucky roll.