Sophocles
Sophocles
Sophocles is one of three ancient Greek tragedians whose plays have survived. His first plays were written later than those of Aeschylus, and earlier than or contemporary with those of Euripides. Sophocles wrote 120 plays during the course of his life, but only seven have survived in a complete form: Ajax, Antigone, The Women of Trachis, Oedipus the King, Electra, Philoctetes and Oedipus at Colonus. For almost 50 years, Sophocles was the most celebrated playwright in the dramatic competitions of...
NationalityGreek
ProfessionPoet
good-times timeliness seasons
In season, all is good.
uprising evil dying
Whoever lives among many evils just as I, how can dying not be a source of gain?
wish-to-die evil worst
Death is not the worst evil, but rather when we wish to die and cannot.
oedipus helping
How dreadful knowledge of the truth can be when there's no help in truth!
greek-poet justice
There is a point at which even justice does injury.
greek-poet
I see the state of all of us who live, nothing more than phantoms or a weightless shadow.
greek-poet man nature
All is disgust when a man leaves his own nature and does what is unfit.
greek-poet whoever
Whoever understands how to do a kindness when he fares well would be a friend better than any possession.
greek-poet
Look and you will find it - what is unsought will go undetected.
greek-poet
A soul that is kind and intends justice discovers more than any sophist.
cure greek-poet heavier ill
Hush! Check those words. Do not cure ill with ill and make your pain still heavier than it is.
greek-poet
It's a terrible thing to speak well and be wrong.
greek-poet men nor prophet waits
Men may know many things by seeing; but no prophet can see before the event, nor what end waits for him.
dreadful greek-poet knowledge truth
How dreadful knowledge of the truth can be when there's no help in the truth.