“I see that all of us who live are nothing but images or insubstantial shadow.”
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 101-120 of 135
“I see that all of us who live are nothing but images or insubstantial shadow.”
“There is a point at which even justice does injury.”
“For the wretched one night is like a thousand; for someone faring well death is just one more night.”
“A wise doctor does not mutter incantations over a sore that needs the knife.”
“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.”
“A day lays low and lifts up again all human things.”
“Men should pledge themselves to nothing; for reflection makes a liar of their resolution.”
“Bear up, my child, bear up; Zeus who oversees and directs all things is still mighty in heaven.”
“Whoever grows angry amid troubles applies a drug worse than the disease and is a physician unskilled about misfortunes.”
“Isn't it the sweetest mockery to mock our enemies?”
“Reverence does not die with mortals, nor does it perish whether they live or die.”
“Those whose life is long still strive for gain, and for all mortals all things take second place to money.”
“Whoever neglects the arts when he is young has lost the past and is dead to the future.”
“Not knowing anything is the sweetest life.”
“Whoever thinks his friend more important than his country, I rate him nowhere.”
“The oaths of a woman I inscribe on water.”
“If you were to offer a thirsty man all wisdom, you would not please him more than if you gave him a drink.”
“One word frees us of all the weight and pain in life. That word is love.”
“Silence is an ornament for women.”
“Old age and the passage of time teach all things.”