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
fall gambling dice
The dice of Zeus always fall luckily.
light speech second-best
Not to be born surpasses thought and speech. The second best is to have seen the light and then go back quickly whence we came
men nobility dies
Let a man nobly live or nobly die.
hands mourning weeping
Now let the weeping cease; Let no one mourn again. These things are in the hands of God.
men wonder stranger
Many the wonders but nothing walks stranger than man.
winning missing acting
I would rather miss the mark acting well than win the day acting basely.
thinking knowing not-knowing
Not knowing anything is the sweetest life.
antigone
There is no happiness where there is no wisdom.
impossible madness astronomy
Astronomy? Impossible to understand and madness to investigate.
shine-bright light shining
If you have done terrible things, you must endure terrible things; for thus the sacred light of injustice shines bright.
believe men thinking
Do not believe that you alone can be right.The man who thinks that,The man who maintains that only he has the powerTo reason correctly, the gift to speak, the soul-A man like that, when you know him, turns out empty.
men know-me knows
What men have seen they know. . . .
men tidy tidings
No man loves the bearer of bad tidings.
love war victim
War loves to seek its victims in the young.