Of all human ills, greatest is fortune's wayward tyranny.

τῆς ἀναγκαίας τύχης
οὐκ ἔστιν οὐδὲν μεῖζον ἀνθρώποις κακόν.

Sophocles

Ajax

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More information about this quote

Topic

Bad luck Fortune The human condition

Speaker

Tecmessa

Author

Sophocles

Source

Ajax

Medium

Play

Genre

Tragic play Greek theater

Language

Greek

Time

430 BC 430s BC 5th century BC

Era

Classical antiquity

Occupation

Playwright Writer

From

Greece Europe Ancient Greece

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Sophocles. Αἴας [Ajax]. c. 441 BCE, Athens, Greece.

Current Citation

Sophocles. "Ajax." Electra and Other Plays, translated by David Raeburn. Penguin Classics, 2008.

Illustrated Quote

A quote by Sophocles about bad luck: “Of all human ills, greatest is fortune's wayward tyranny.”
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A quote by Sophocles about bad luck: “Of all human ills, greatest is fortune's wayward tyranny.”
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A quote by Sophocles about bad luck: “Of all human ills, greatest is fortune's wayward tyranny.”
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Related Quotes

Below are one or more quotes that share at least one tag with the quote at the top of the page

Another quote about The human condition

We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.

Oscar Wilde

Lady Windermere's Fan

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More information about this quote
Topic
Stars The human condition
Speaker
Lord Darlington

Author

Oscar Wilde
Source
Lady Windermere's Fan
Medium
Play
Genre
Comedic play
Language
English
Time
1892 1890s 19th century
Authentication Score 3
Original Citation

Wilde, Oscar. Lady Windermere's Fan, A Play About a Good Woman. 1892, St James's Theatre, London, England, UK, act 3.

Current Citation

Wilde, Oscar. "Lady Windermere's Fan." Oscar Wilde: The Major Works, edited by Isobel Murray. Oxford University Press, 2008, act 3.

Another quote from the 5th century BC

We are lovers of beauty without extravagance, and lovers of wisdom without unmanliness. Wealth is to us is not mere material for vainglory but an opportunity for achievement; and poverty we think it no disgrace to acknowledge but a real degradation to make no effort to overcome.

Pericles

Quoted in Funeral Oration, by Thucydides

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More information about this quote
Topic
Golden mean
Speaker
Pericles

Author

Thucydides
Source
Funeral Oration History of the Peloponnesian War
Medium
Speech
Genre
Political speech Historical literature
Language
Greek
Time
430 BC 430s BC 5th century BC
Era
Classical antiquity
Authentication Score 2
Original Citation

Thucydides. The History of the Peloponnesian War. c. 431 BC, bk. 2.

Current Citation

Thucydides. The Peloponnesian War, translated by Martin Hammond. Oxford University Press, 2009, bk. 2.

Another quote from Classical antiquity

Resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.

Jesus

Matthew 5:39

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More information about this quote
Topic
Turn the other cheek Sermon on the Mount
Speaker
Jesus
Source
Gospel of Matthew The Bible
Medium
Scripture
Genre
Religious literature
Statement Type
Orders and commands
Language
Greek
Time
60 60s 1st century
Era
Classical antiquity
Authentication Score 3
Citation

The Holy Bible: The King James Version. 1611. (Matthew 5:39).

Another quote originally in Greek

This only is denied even to God,
The power to make what has been done undone.

Agathon

Quoted in The Nicomachean Ethics, by Aristotle

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More information about this quote
Topic
God's power God Changing the past The past
Speaker
Agathon

Author

Aristotle
Source
The Nicomachean Ethics
Genre
Philosophical literature
Language
Greek
Time
350 BC 350s BC 4th century BC
Era
Classical antiquity
Authentication Score 3
Original Citation

Agathon. Quoted in Ἠθικὰ Νικομάχεια, Ēthika Nikomacheia [Nicomachean Ethics], written by Aristotle. c. 350 BC, bk. 6.

Current Citation

Agathon. Quoted in Nicomachean Ethics, written by Aristotle, translated by Terence Irwin. Hackett Publishing Company, 2019, bk. 7, ch. 2.