Sophocles

"Reverence does not die with mortals, nor does it perish whether they live or die."

"When ice appears out of doors, and boys seize it up while it is solid, at first they experience new pleasures. But in the end their pride will not agree to let it go, but their acquisition is not good for them if it stays in their hands. In the same way an identical desire drives lovers to act and not to act."

"A lie never lives to be old."

"No man loves life like him that's growing old."

"A short saying often contains much wisdom."

"Truly, to tell lies is not honorable; But when the truth entails tremendous ruin, To speak dishonorably is pardonable."

"Do nothing secretly; for Time sees and hears all things, and discloses all."

"It is better not to live at all than to live disgraced."

"War loves to seek its victims in the young."

"If it were possible to heal sorrow by weeping and to raise the dead with tears, gold were less prized than grief."

"Heaven ne'er helps the men who will not act."

"πῶς," ἔφη, "ὦ Σοφόκλεις, ἔχεις πρὸς τἀφροδίσια; ἔτι οἷός τε εἶ γυναικὶ συγγίγνεσθαι"; καὶ ὅς, "εὐφήμει," ἔφη, "ὦ ἄνθρωπε: ἁσμενέστατα μέντοι αὐτὸ ἀπέφυγον, ὥσπερ λυττῶντά τινα καὶ ἄγριον δεσπότην ἀποδράς."

"If ills you do, ills also you must bear."

"If I am Sophocles, I am not mad; and if I am mad, I am not Sophocles."

"Children are the anchors of a mother's life."

"The truth is always the strongest argument."

"The dice of Zeus fall ever luckily."

"Fortune is not on the side of the faint-hearted."

"No oath can be too binding for a lover."

"Thoughts are mightier than strength of hand."

"στέργειν δέ τάκπεσόντα καί θέσθαι πρέπει σοφόν κυβευτήν, ’αλλά μη στένειν τύχην."

"Γύναι, γυναιξὶ κόσμον ἡ σιγὴ φέρει."

"ἀλλ᾽ ἢ καλῶς ζῆν ἢ καλῶς τεθνηκέναι τὸν εὐγενῆ χρή"

"Of all human ills, greatest is fortune's wayward tyranny."

"Ὦ παῖ, γένοιο πατρὸς εὐτυχέστερος, τὰ δ᾽ ἄλλ᾽ ὅμοιος: καὶ γένοι᾽ ἂν οὐ κακός"

"χάρις χάριν γάρ ἐστιν ἡ τίκτουσ᾽ ἀεί ὅτου δ᾽ ἀπορρεῖ μνῆστις εὖ πεπονθότος, οὐκ ἂν γένοιτ᾽ ἔθ᾽ οὗτος εὐγενὴς ἀνήρ."

"ἐχθρῶν ἄδωρα δώρα κοὐκ ὀνήσιμα."

"Men of ill judgement oft ignore the good That lies within their hands, till they have lost it."

"θεοῖς τέθνηκεν οὗτος, οὐ κείνοισιν, οὔ."

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

"I will never reveal my dreadful secrets, or rather, yours."

"The tyrant is a child of Pride Who drinks from his sickening cup Recklessness and vanity, Until from his high crest headlong He plummets to the dust of hope."

"Fear? What has a man to do with fear? Chance rules our lives, and the future is all unknown. Best live as we may, from day to day."

"I am the child of Fortune, The giver of good, and I shall not be shamed. She is my mother; my sisters are the Seasons; My rising and my falling match with theirs. Born thus, I ask to be no other man Than that I am, and will know who I am."

"The greatest griefs are those we cause ourselves."

"Time eases all things."

"Let every man in mankind's frailty Consider his last day; and let none Presume on his good fortune until he find Life, at his death, a memory without pain."

"For God hates utterly The bray of bragging tongues."

"Our Ship of State, which recent storms have threatened to destroy, has come safely to harbor at last."

"I have nothing but contempt for the kind of governor who is afraid, for whatever reason, to follow the course that he knows is best for the State; and as for the man who sets private friendship above the public welfare — I have no use for him, either."

"Nobody likes the man who brings bad news."

"Money! There's nothing in the world so demoralizing as money."

"Nothing so evil as money ever grew to be current among men. This lays cities low, this drives men from their homes, this trains and warps honest souls till they set themselves to works of shame; this still teaches folk to practise villainies, and to know every godless deed. But all the men who wrought this thing for hire have made it sure that, soon or late, they shall pay the price."

"Henceforth ye may thieve with better knowledge whence lucre should be won, and learn that it is not well to love gain from every source. For thou wilt find that ill-gotten pelf brings more men to ruin than to weal."

"πολλὰ τὰ δεινὰ κοὐδὲν ἀν- θρώπου δεινότερον πέλει."

"It is a good thing To escape from death, but it is not great pleasure To bring death to a friend."

"ὅστις γὰρ ἐν πολλοῖσιν ὡς ἐγὼ κακοῖς ζῇ, πῶς ὅδ᾽ οὐχὶ κατθανὼν κέρδος φέρει"

"Grief teaches the steadiest minds to waver."

"Happy are they who know not the taste of evil."

"τὸ κακὸν δοκεῖν ποτ᾽ ἐσθλὸν τῷδ᾽ ἔμμεν' ὅτῳ φρένας θεὸς ἄγει πρὸς ἄταν"