Silence is an ornament for women.
SophoclesRead
Alas, how quickly the gratitude owed to the dead flows off, how quick to be proved a deceiver.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The fleeting nature of gratitude for those who have passed away reveals human fickleness.
This quote by Sophocles reflects on the transient nature of gratitude that people often express towards the deceased. It suggests that after death, the recognition of someone's contributions and importance can quickly fade, highlighting a human tendency to forget or take for granted the sacrifices and impacts made by others, particularly once they are no longer present to remind us of their worth.
Themes
GratitudeDeadMemoryHuman NatureTransience
In practice
Example use cases
A eulogy reflecting on a loved oneβs impact.
More from Sophocles
All quotes βNone love the messenger who brings bad news.
SophoclesRead
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.
SophoclesRead
Not even Ares battles against necessity.
SophoclesRead
You clearly hate to yield, but you will regret it when your anger has passed. Such natures are justly the hardest for themselves to bear.
SophoclesRead
There is nothing more hateful than bad advice.
SophoclesRead
Similar quotes
Historians once assumed that when childhood mortality was high, people must not have loved their children very much; it would have been too painful. Research has since proved that assumption wrong.
Jill LeporeRead
In order to acquire anything in the physical universe, you have to relinquish your attachment to it. This doesn't mean you give up your intention to create your desire...and you don't give up the desire. You give up your attachment to the result.
Deepak ChopraRead
But you must not change one thing, one pebble, one grain of sand, until you know what good and evil will follow on that act. The world is in balance, in Equilibrium. A wizard's power of Changing and Summoning can shake the balance of the world. It is dangerous, that power...It must follow knowledge, and serve need.
Ursula K. Le GuinRead
The Bible says that God has a reason for keeping us here; if He didn't, He would take us to Heaven far sooner.
Billy GrahamRead
Have not I myself known five hundred living soldiers sabred into crows' meat for a piece of glazed cotton, which they call their flag; which had you sold it at any market-cross, would not have brought above three groschen?
Thomas CarlyleRead
We've had a debate about immigration in New Zealand for some time. Now what we're trying to champion in that conversation is a recognition that New Zealand has been built off immigration. I myself am a third-generation New Zealander.
Jacinda ArdernRead