Antigone Quotes

“All men make mistakes, but a good man yields when he knows his course is wrong, and repairs the evil. The only crime is pride.”
― Sophocles, Antigone

“Go then if you must, but remember, no matter how foolish your deeds, those who love you will love you still.”
― Sophocles, Antigone

“A man, though wise, should never be ashamed of learning more, and must unbend his mind.”
― Sophocles, Antigone

“There's nothing in the world so demoralizing as money.”
― Sophocles, Antigone

“I was born to join in love, not hate - that is my nature.”
― Sophocles, Antigone

“Tomorrow is tomorrow.
Future cares have future cures,
And we must mind today.”
― Sophocles, Antigone

“We have only a little time to please the living. But all eternity to love the dead.”
― Sophocles, Antigone

“Grief teaches the steadiest minds to waver.”
― Sophocles, Antigone

“When I have tried and failed, I shall have failed.”
― Sophocles, Antigone

“Leave me to my own absurdity.”
― Sophocles, Antigone

“I have been a stranger here in my own land: All my life”
― Sophocles, Antigone

“No one loves the messenger who brings bad news.”
― Sophocles, Antigone

“A city which belongs to just one man is no true city”
― Sophocles, Antigone

“It is not right if I am wrong. But if I am young, and right, what does my age matter?”
― Sophocles, Antigone

“There is no greater evil than men's failure to consult and to consider.”
― Sophocles, Antigone

“Nobody has a more sacred obligation to obey the law than those who make the law.”
― Jean Anouilh, Antigone

“Do not believe that you alone can be right.
The man who thinks that,
The man who maintains that only he has the power
To reason correctly, the gift to speak, the soul—
A man like that, when you know him, turns out empty.”
― Sophocles, Antigone

“I have no love for a friend who loves in words alone.”
― Sophocles, Antigone

“Do not fear for me. Make straight your own path to destiny.”
― Sophocles, Antigone

“Numberless are the world's wonders, but none
More wonderful than man; the storm gray sea
Yields to his prows, the huge crests bear him high;
Earth, holy and inexhaustible, is graven
With shining furrows where his plows have gone
Year after year, the timeless labor of stallions.

The light-boned birds and beasts that cling to cover,
The lithe fish lighting their reaches of dim water,
All are taken, tamed in the net of his mind;
The lion on the hill, the wild horse windy-maned,
Resign to him; and his blunt yoke has broken
The sultry shoulders of the mountain bull.

Words also, and thought as rapid as air,
He fashions to his good use; statecraft is his
And his the skill that deflects the arrows of snow,
The spears of winter rain: from every wind
He has made himself secure--from all but one:
In the late wind of death he cannot stand.

O clear intelligence, force beyond all measure!
O fate of man, working both good and evil!
When the laws are kept, how proudly his city stands!
When the laws are broken, what of his city then?
Never may the anarchic man find rest at my hearth,
Never be it said that my thoughts are his thoughts.”
― Sophocles, Antigone

“There is no happiness where there is no wisdom...”
― Sophocles, Antigone

“Numberless are the world's wonders, but none more wonderful than man”
― Sophocles, Antigone

“Oh it's terrible when the one who does the judging judges things all wrong.”
― Sophocles, Antigone

“I have nothing but contempt for the kind of governor who is afraid, for whatever reason, to follow the course that he knows is best for the State.”
― Sophocles, Antigone

“Take these things to heart, my son, I warn you.
All men make mistakes, it is only human.
But once the wrong is done, a man
can turn his back on folly, misfortune too,
if he tries to make amends, however low he's fallen,
and stops his bullnecked ways. Stubbornness
brands you for stupidity - pride is a crime.”
― Sophocles, Antigone

“Goodbye to the sun that shines for me no longer;”
― Sophocles, Antigone

“It is my nature to join in love, not hate.”
― Sophocles, Antigone

“Reason is God's crowning gift to a man...”
― Sophocles, Antigone

“It is the dead, not the living, who make the longest demands.”
― Sophocles, Antigone

“Comprendre... Vous n'avez que ce mot-là à la bouche, tous, depuis que je suis toute petite. Il fallait comprendre qu'on ne peut pas toucher à l'eau, à la belle eau fuyante et froide parce que cela mouille les dalles, à la terre parce que cela tache les robes. Il fallait comprendre qu'on ne doit pas manger tout à la fois, donner tout ce qu'on a dans ses poches au mendiant qu'on rencontre, courir, courir dans le vent jusqu'à ce qu'on tombe par terre et boire quand on a chaud et se baigner quand il est trop tôt ou trop tard, mais pas juste quand on en a envie ! Comprendre. Toujours comprendre. Moi, je ne veux pas comprendre. Je comprendrai quand je serai vieille [...]. Si je deviens vieille. Pas maintenant.”
― Jean Anouilh, Antigone