Life and Existence

Not to be born surpasses thought and speech. The second best is to have seen the light And then to go back quickly whence we came.

The immortal Gods alone have neither age nor death! All other things almighty Time disquiets.

The immortal Gods alone have neither age nor death! All other things almighty Time disquiets.

Death is not the worst; rather, in vain To wish for death, and not to compass it.

Let every man in mankind’s frailty Consider his last day; and let none Presume on his good fortune until he find Life, at his death, a memory without pain.

Let every man in mankind’s frailty Consider his last day; and let none Presume on his good fortune until he find Life, at his death, a memory without pain.

Look upon Oedipus This is the king who solved the famous riddle [of the Sphinx]. 8

Time eases all things.

The tyrant is a child of Pride Who drinks from his great sickening cup Recklessness and vanity, Until from his high crest headlong He plummets to the dust of hope. 7

There is no happiness where there is no wisdom; No wisdom but in submission to the gods. Big words are always punished, And proud men in old age learn to be wise.

All that is and shall be, And all the past, is his [Zeus’s].

All that is and shall be, And all the past, is his [Zeus’s].

But all your [Creon’s] strength is weakness itself against The immortal unrecorded laws of God. They are not merely now: they were and shall be Forever, beyond man utterly.

But all your [Creon’s] strength is weakness itself against The immortal unrecorded laws of God. They are not merely now: they were and shall be Forever, beyond man utterly.

Nine-tenths of wisdom is being wise in time.

The pursuit, even of the best things, ought to be calm and tranquil.

The discovery of truth is prevented more effectively, not by the false appearance things present and which mislead into error, not directly by weakness of the reasoning powers, but by preconceived opinion, by prejudice.

We may despair of knowing, we must not despair of judging.

Health is so necessary to all the duties, as well as pleasures of life, that the crime of squandering it is equal to the folly.

Be careful whom you associate with. It is human to imitate the habits of those with whom we interact. We inadvertently adopt their interests, their opinions, their values, and their habit of interpreting events.

Remember not only to say the right thing in the right place, but far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.

True happiness is to enjoy the present without anxious dependence on the future.

Keep your eyes wide open before marriage and half shut afterwards.

We are all something, but none of us are everything.