Top 500 Sophocles Quotes (2024 Update)
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351. “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.”

— Sophocles

352. “No man loves life like him that’s growing old.”

— Sophocles

353. “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.”

— Sophocles

354. “Whoever grows angry amid troubles applies a drug worse than the disease and is a physician unskilled about misfortunes.”

— Sophocles

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

— Sophocles

356. “To err is common to all mankind, but having erred he is no longer reckless nor unblest who haven fallen into evil seeks a cure, nor remains unmoved.”

— Sophocles

357. “It made our hair stand up in panic fear.”

— Sophocles

358. “Ignorant men do not know what good they hold in their hands until they’ve flung it away.”

— Sophocles

359. “There are some who praise a man free from disease; to me no man who is poor seems free from disease but to be constantly sick.”

— Sophocles

360. “Even a poor man can receive honors.”

— Sophocles

361. “Rash indeed is he who reckons on tomorrow, or happily on the days beyond it; for tomorrow is not, until today is past.”

— Sophocles

362. “One thinking it is right to speak all things, whether the word is fit for speech or unutterable.”

— Sophocles

363. “The man from whom the joys of life have departed is living no more, but should be counted with the dead.”

— Sophocles

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

— Sophocles

365. “More men come to doom through dirty profits than are kept by them.”

— Sophocles

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

— Sophocles

367. “Hope has often caused the love of gain to ruin men.”

— Sophocles

368. “Be a thrifty steward of thy goods.”

— Sophocles

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

— Sophocles

370. “If you are out of trouble, watch for danger. And when you live well, then consider the most your life, lest ruin take it unawares.”

— Sophocles

371. “Sleep, thou patron of mankind, Great physician of the mind Who does nor pain nor sorrow know, Sweetest balm of every woe.”

— Sophocles

372. “No one who errs unwillingly is evil.”

— Sophocles

373. “To live without evil belongs only to the gods.”

— Sophocles

374. “What house, bloated with luxury, ever became prosperous without a woman’s excellence?”

— Sophocles

375. “Heap up great wealth in your house, if you wish, and live as a tyrant, but, if the enjoyment of these things be lacking, I would not buy the rest for the shadow of smoke as against happiness.”

— Sophocles

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

— Sophocles

377. “The rewards of virtue alone abide secure.”

— Sophocles

378. “Ah! terrible is knowledge to the man Whom knowledge profits not.”

— Sophocles

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

— Sophocles

380. “To know that all is well, even if late will come to know it, is at least some gain.”

— Sophocles

381. “Count no mortal fortunate till he has departed this life free from pain.”

— Sophocles

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

— Sophocles

383. “No speech can stain what is noble by nature.”

— Sophocles

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

— Sophocles

385. “Look how men live, always precariously balanced between good and bad fortune.”

— Sophocles

386. “No oath can be too binding for a lover.”

— Sophocles

387. “Of all ill, Self-chosen sorrows are the worst to bear.”

— Sophocles

388. “What is to be taught I learn; what is to be discovered I seek; what is to be prayed for I sought from the gods.”

— Sophocles

389. “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.”

— Sophocles

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

— Sophocles

391. “Whatever God has brought about Is to be borne with courage.”

— Sophocles

392. “Pardon, and keep silent, for what is shameful for women must be concealed among women.”

— Sophocles

393. “And the dead man will hate thee too, with cause. Say I am mad and give my madness rein To wreck itself; the worst that can befall Is but to die an honorable death.”

— Sophocles

394. “Having advanced to the limit of boldness, child, you have stumbled against the lofty pedestal of Justice.”

— Sophocles

395. “Think not that your word and yours alone must be right.”

— Sophocles

396. “I live in a place of tears.”

— Sophocles

397. “No wound is worse than counterfeited love.”

— Sophocles

398. “The penalty is death: yet hope of gain Hath lured men to their ruin oftentimes.”

— Sophocles

399. “Great Time makes all things dim.”

— Sophocles

400. “False words do not bring forth fruit.”

— Sophocles