“Rather fail with honor than succeed by fraud.”
Author detail
Sophocles (circa. 496 BCE - 406 BCE) was the second of the three ancient Greek tragedians whose work has survived to the present day. His first plays were written later than those of Aeschylus, and earlier than those of Euripides. According to the Suda, a 10th century encyclopedia, Sophocles wrote 120 or more plays during the course of his life, but only seven have survived in a complete form, namely Ajax, Antigone, Trachinian Women, Oedipus the King, Electra, Philoctetes and Oedipus at Colonus. For almost 50 years, Sophocles was the most-awarded playwright in the dramatic competitions of ancient Athens that took place during the religious festivals of the Lenaea and the Dionysia. Sophocles competed in around thirty drama competitions; he won perhaps twenty four and never received lower than second place. Aeschylus won fourteen competitions and was defeated by Sophocles at times. Euripides won only four competitions.
Quotes
Showing 81-100 of 135
“Rather fail with honor than succeed by fraud.”
“Much wisdom often goes with fewest words.”
“Look and you will find it - what is unsought will go undetected.”
“Ignorant men don't know what good they hold in their hands until they've flung it away.”
“Foolishness is indeed the sister of wickedness.”
“There is some pleasure even in words, when they bring forgetfulness of present miseries.”
“Things gained through unjust fraud are never secure.”
“A word does not frighten the man who, in acting, feels no fear.”
“Evil gains work their punishment.”
“War never takes a wicked man by chance, the good man always.”
“It is the task of a good man to help those in misfortune.”
“Do not grieve yourself too much for those you hate, nor yet forget them utterly.”
“A man growing old becomes a child again.”
“No one longs to live more than someone growing old.”
“There is no success without hardship.”
“There is nothing more hateful than bad advice.”
“Hush! Check those words. Do not cure ill with ill and make your pain still heavier than it is.”
“Even a poor man can receive honors.”
“Men of ill judgment ignore the good that lies within their hands, till they have lost it.”
“It was my care to make my life illustrious not by words more than by deeds.”