Sophocles
Ancient Greek playwright, dramatist, priest, and politician of Athens.
Numberless are the world's wonders, but none
More wonderful than man.
The dice of Zeus fall ever luckily.
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.
Think not that your word and yours alone must be right.
For God hates utterly
The bray of bragging tongues.
Wisdom outweighs any wealth.
One word
Frees us of all the weight and pain of life:
That word is love.
Whoever has a keen eye for profits, is blind in relation to his craft.
No oath can be too binding for a lover.
The ideal condition
Would be, I admit, that men should be right by instinct;
But since we are all likely to go astray,
The reasonable thing is to learn from those who can teach.
A wise player ought to accept his throws and score them, not bewail his luck.
Do nothing secretly; for Time sees and hears all things, and discloses all.
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.
Fortune is not on the side of the faint-hearted.
The greatest griefs are those we cause ourselves.
A prudent mind can see room for misgiving, lest he who prospers should one day suffer reverse.
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.
I will never reveal my dreadful secrets, or rather, yours.
Nobody likes the man who brings bad news.