Quotes from The Complete Plays

Sophocles ·  420 pages

Rating: (3.6K votes)


“You, you'll see no more the pain I suffered, all the pain I caused! Too long you looked on the ones you never should have seen, blind to the ones you longed to see, to know! Blind from this hour on! Blind in the darkness-blind!”
― Sophocles, quote from The Complete Plays


“ANTIGONE Yea, for these laws were not ordained of Zeus, And she who sits enthroned with gods below, Justice, enacted not these human laws. Nor did I deem that thou, a mortal man, Could’st by a breath annul and override The immutable unwritten laws of Heaven. They were not born today nor yesterday; They die not; and none knoweth whence they sprang. I was not like, who feared no mortal’s frown, To disobey these laws and so provoke The wrath of Heaven.  I knew that I must die, E’en hadst thou not proclaimed it; and if death Is thereby hastened, I shall count it gain. For death is gain to him whose life, like mine, Is full of misery.  Thus my lot appears Not sad, but blissful; for had I endured To leave my mother’s son unburied there, I should have grieved with reason, but not now. And if in this thou judgest me a fool, Methinks the judge of folly’s not acquit.”
― Sophocles, quote from The Complete Plays


“And now that Reason’s light returns, New sorrow in his spirit burns.”
― Sophocles, quote from The Complete Plays


“Therefore, while our eyes wait to see the destined final day, we must call no one happy who is of mortal race, until he has crossed life's border, free from pain.”
― Sophocles, quote from The Complete Plays


“O građani otadžbine Tebe, evo Edipa,
znalca čudesne zagonetke i prvog čoveka,
čiju sreću niko nije gledao bez zavisti!
Gledajte u kakav ponor sudbe grozne pade on!
Zato nikog, dan dok onaj poslednji ne dočeka,
neću proslavljati kao srećna, pre no doplovi
kraju veka svog a nikakav ne pogodi ga jad.”
― Sophocles, quote from The Complete Plays



About the author

Sophocles
Born place: Colonus (Athens), Greece
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“And that, Annette, is called Pilates”
― Jeaniene Frost, quote from One Foot in the Grave


“Locke sighed.
'So this is winning,' he said.
'It is,' replied Jean.
'It can go fuck itself,' said Locke.”
― Scott Lynch, quote from The Lies of Locke Lamora


“What a pity every child couldn't learn to read under a willow tree...”
― Elizabeth George Speare, quote from The Witch of Blackbird Pond


“subjugate the Arab world. Dr. Weizmann and the Zionists felt”
― Leon Uris, quote from Exodus


“A double-edged sword
One side destroys
One releases
I am your Gordian knot
Will you release or destroy me?
Follow truth and you shall:
Find me on water
Purify me through fire
Trapped by earth nevermore
Air will whisper to you
What spirit already knows:
That even shattered
anything is possible
If you believe
Then we shall both be free.”
― P.C. Cast, quote from Burned


Interesting books

God: The Failed Hypothesis: How Science Shows That God Does Not Exist
(7.1K)
God: The Failed Hypo...
by Victor J. Stenger
A Little Love Story
(835)
A Little Love Story
by Roland Merullo
The Summer Before the Dark
(1.7K)
The Summer Before th...
by Doris Lessing
The Key to Rebecca
(21.4K)
The Key to Rebecca
by Ken Follett
Witness in Death
(23.8K)
Witness in Death
by J.D. Robb
Alcools
(4.3K)
Alcools
by Guillaume Apollinaire

About BookQuoters

BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.