The Oedipus Cycle Quotes

“But the hand that struck my eyes was mine,
mine atone—no one else—
I did it all myself!
What good were eyes to me?
Nothing I could see could bring me joy.”
― Sophocles, The Three Theban Plays: Antigone; Oedipus the King; Oedipus at Colonus

“What superhuman power drove you on? OEDIPUS: Apollo, friends, Apollo—
he ordained my agonies—these, my pains on pains!”
― Sophocles, The Three Theban Plays: Antigone; Oedipus the King; Oedipus at Colonus

“Dear friend, still here?
Standing by me, still with a care for me,
the blind man?”
― Sophocles, The Three Theban Plays: Antigone; Oedipus the King; Oedipus at Colonus

“No wonder you suffer
twice over, the pain of your wounds,
the lasting grief of pain.”
― Sophocles, The Three Theban Plays: Antigone; Oedipus the King; Oedipus at Colonus

“the stabbing daggers, stab of memory
raking me insane.”
― Sophocles, The Three Theban Plays: Antigone; Oedipus the King; Oedipus at Colonus

“Dark, horror of darkness
my darkness, drowning, swirling around me
crashing wave on wave—unspeakable, irresistible
headwind, fatal harbor!”
― Sophocles, The Three Theban Plays: Antigone; Oedipus the King; Oedipus at Colonus

“To the depths of terror, too dark to hear, to see.”
― Sophocles, The Three Theban Plays: Antigone; Oedipus the King; Oedipus at Colonus

“My destiny, my dark power, what a leap you made!”
― Sophocles, The Three Theban Plays: Antigone; Oedipus the King; Oedipus at Colonus

“so much fascinates my eyes,
but you ... I shudder at the sight.”
― Sophocles, The Three Theban Plays: Antigone; Oedipus the King; Oedipus at Colonus

“O the terror—
the suffering, for all the world to see,
the worst terror that ever met my eyes.
What madness swept over you?”
― Sophocles, The Three Theban Plays: Antigone; Oedipus the King; Oedipus at Colonus

“Now he’ll tear himself from his native earth,
not linger, curse the house with his own curse.”
― Sophocles, The Three Theban Plays: Antigone; Oedipus the King; Oedipus at Colonus

“No, I can’t repeat it, it’s unholy.”
― Sophocles, The Three Theban Plays: Antigone; Oedipus the King; Oedipus at Colonus

“all the griefs in the world that you can name,
all are theirs forever.”
― Sophocles, The Three Theban Plays: Antigone; Oedipus the King; Oedipus at Colonus

“Now, in this one day,
wailing, madness and doom, death, disgrace,”
― Sophocles, The Three Theban Plays: Antigone; Oedipus the King; Oedipus at Colonus

“never should have seen,
blind to the ones you longed to see, to know! Blind
from this hour on! Blind in the darkness—blind!”
― Sophocles, The Three Theban Plays: Antigone; Oedipus the King; Oedipus at Colonus

“You,
you’ll see no more the pain I suffered, all the pain I caused!
Too long you looked on the ones you never should have seen,
blind to the ones you longed to see, to know! Blind
from this hour on! Blind in the darkness—blind!”
― Sophocles, The Three Theban Plays: Antigone; Oedipus the King; Oedipus at Colonus

“all done with a will. The pains
we inflict upon ourselves hurt most of all.”
― Sophocles, The Three Theban Plays: Antigone; Oedipus the King; Oedipus at Colonus

“I tell you neither the waters of the Danube
nor the Nile can wash this palace clean.”
― Sophocles, The Three Theban Plays: Antigone; Oedipus the King; Oedipus at Colonus

“I tell you the truth, you gave me life
my breath leapt up in you
and now you bring down night upon my eyes.”
― Sophocles, The Three Theban Plays: Antigone; Oedipus the King; Oedipus at Colonus

“Now I weep like a man who wails the dead
and the dirge comes pouring forth with all my heart!”
― Sophocles, The Three Theban Plays: Antigone; Oedipus the King; Oedipus at Colonus

“But now for all your power
Time, all-seeing Time has dragged you to the light,
judged your marriage monstrous from the start—
the son and the father tangling, both one”
― Sophocles, The Three Theban Plays: Antigone; Oedipus the King; Oedipus at Colonus

“How, how could the furrows your father plowed
bear you, your agony, harrowing on
in silence O so long?”
― Sophocles, The Three Theban Plays: Antigone; Oedipus the King; Oedipus at Colonus

“But now to hear your story—is there a man more agonized?
More wed to pain and frenzy? Not a man on earth,
the joy of your life ground down to nothing”
― Sophocles, The Three Theban Plays: Antigone; Oedipus the King; Oedipus at Colonus

“You are my great example, you, your life
your destiny, Oedipus, man of misery—
I count no man blest.”
― Sophocles, The Three Theban Plays: Antigone; Oedipus the King; Oedipus at Colonus

“And the vision no sooner dawns than dies
blazing into oblivion.”
― Sophocles, The Three Theban Plays: Antigone; Oedipus the King; Oedipus at Colonus

“does there exist, is there a man on earth
who seizes more joy than just a dream, a vision?”
― Sophocles, The Three Theban Plays: Antigone; Oedipus the King; Oedipus at Colonus

“O the generations of men
the dying generations—adding the total
of all your lives I find they come to nothing”
― Sophocles, The Three Theban Plays: Antigone; Oedipus the King; Oedipus at Colonus

“If you are the man he says you are, believe me,
you were born for pain.”
― Sophocles, The Three Theban Plays: Antigone; Oedipus the King; Oedipus at Colonus

“I, I count myself the son of Chance,
the great goddess, giver of all good things—
I’ll never see myself disgraced.”
― Sophocles, The Three Theban Plays: Antigone; Oedipus the King; Oedipus at Colonus

“Stop—in the name of god,
if you love your own life, call off this search!
My suffering is enough.”
― Sophocles, The Three Theban Plays: Antigone; Oedipus the King; Oedipus at Colonus