book

Oedipus the King Quotes

21 of the best book quotes from Oedipus the King
01
Share
“E’en intolerable ills, Finding right issue, tend to naught but good.”
Sophocles
author
Oedipus the King
book
Creon
character
trials
challenges
good
concepts
02
Share
“Words scare not him who blenches not at deeds.”
03
Share
“Monster! thy silence would incense a flint.”
04
Share
“May the god who sent this oracle Save us withal and rid us of this pest.”
05
Share
“I seemed forsooth too simple to perceive The serpent stealing on me in the dark.”
06
Share
“I am not so infatuate as to grasp The shadow when I hold the substance fast.”
07
Share
“Thou lov’st to speak in riddles and dark words.”
08
Share
“Offspring of endless Night, thou hast no power O’er me or any man who sees the sun.”
09
Share
“No living man can hope To force the gods to speak against their will.”
10
Share
“Yea, I am free, strong in the strength of truth.”
11
Share
“I have sent Menoeceus’ son, Creon, my consort’s brother, to inquire Of Pythian Phoebus at his Delphic shrine, How I might save the State by act or word.”
12
Share
“Not for some far-off kinsman, but myself, Shall I expel this poison in the blood; For whoso slew that king might have a mind To strike me too with his assassin hand.”
13
Share
“Many, my children, are the tears I’ve wept, And threaded many a maze of weary thought.”
14
Share
“Thou thyself art thine own bane.”
15
Share
“This day shall be thy birth-day, and thy grave.”
16
Share
“Thou art the man, Thou the accursed polluter of this land.”
17
Share
“A blight is on our harvest in the ear, A blight upon the grazing flocks and herds, A blight on wives in travail; and withal Armed with his blazing torch the God of Plague Hath swooped upon our city emptying The house of Cadmus, and the murky realm Of Pluto is full fed with groans and tears.”
18
Share
“Alas, alas, what misery to be wise When wisdom profits nothing!”
19
Share
“Crave not mastery in all, For the mastery that raised thee was thy bane and wrought thy fall.”
20
Share
“Thus then I answer: since thou hast not spared To twit me with my blindness—thou hast eyes, Yet see’st not in what misery thou art fallen.”
21
Share
“Wretch, may he pine in utter wretchedness!”

Recommended quote pages

View All Quotes

Bookroo

Book Clubs

Follow Bookroo