Top 500 Sophocles Quotes (2026 Update)
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351. “To me, excessive silence seems to bode as ill as too much shouting.”

— Sophocles

352. “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

353. “A fearful man is always hearing things.”

— Sophocles

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

— Sophocles

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

— Sophocles

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

— Sophocles

357. “A wise player ought to accept his throws and score them, not bewail his luck.”

— Sophocles

358. “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

359. “One’s own escape from troubles makes one glad; but bringing friends to trouble is hard grief.”

— Sophocles

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

— Sophocles

361. “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

362. “Oh my love take me there. Let me dwell where you are. I am already nothing, I am already burning. Oh my love, I was once part of you – take me too!”

— Sophocles

363. “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

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

— Sophocles

365. “Of all vile things current on earth, none is so vile as money.”

— Sophocles

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

— Sophocles

367. “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

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

— Sophocles

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

— Sophocles

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

— Sophocles

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

— Sophocles

372. “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

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

— Sophocles

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

— Sophocles

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

— Sophocles

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

— Sophocles

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

— Sophocles

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

— Sophocles

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

— Sophocles

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

— Sophocles

381. “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

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

— Sophocles

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

— Sophocles

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

— Sophocles

385. “Men are of little worth. Their brief lives last a single day. They cannot hold elusive pleasure fast; It melts away. All laurels wither; all illusions fade; Hopes have been phantoms, shade on air-built shade, since time began.”

— Sophocles

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

— Sophocles

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

— Sophocles

388. “The mind convicts itself in advance, when scoundrels are up to no good, plotting in the dark. Oh but I hate it more when a traitor, caught red-handed, tries to glorify his crimes.”

— Sophocles

389. “You are the curse, the corruption of the land!”

— Sophocles

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

— Sophocles

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

— Sophocles

392. “Now don’t, please, be quite so single-minded, self-involved, or assume the world is wrong and you are right. Whoever thinks that he alone possesses intelligence, the gift of eloquence, he and no one else, and character too... such men, I tell you, spread them open-you will find them empty.”

— Sophocles

393. “There is an ancient saying, famous among men, that thou shouldst not judge fully of a man’s life before he dieth, whether it should be called blest or wretched.”

— Sophocles

394. “Great Time makes all things dim.”

— Sophocles

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

— Sophocles

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

— Sophocles

397. “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

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

— Sophocles

399. “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

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

— Sophocles