Language
Sófocles
I would rather miss the mark acting well than win the day acting basely.
A wise doctor does not mutter incantations over a sore that needs the knife.
The gods plant reason in mankind, of all good gifts the highest.
Enemies' gifts are no gifts and do no good.
If one begins all deeds well, it is likely that they will end well too.
To live without evil belongs only to the gods.
It was my care to make my life illustrious not by words more than by deeds.
What house, bloated with luxury, ever became prosperous without a woman's excellence?
Evil counsel travels fast.
If we are to keep our democracy, there must be one commandment: 'Thou shalt not ration justice.'
It is terrible to speak well and be wrong.
Wise thinkers prevail everywhere.
There is no greater evil than anarchy.
No lie ever reaches old age.
A soul that is kind and intends justice discovers more than any sophist.
Whoever thinks his friend more important than his country, I rate him nowhere.
Don't you know that silence supports the accuser's charge?
You should not consider a man's age but his acts.
All is disgust when a man leaves his own nature and does what is unfit.
Even a poor man can receive honors.
If my body is enslaved, still my mind is free.
For those whose wit becomes the mother of villainy, those it educates to be evil in all things.