Silence is an ornament for women.
Do not grieve yourself too much for those you hate, nor yet forget them utterly.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote advises against excessive sorrow for those we dislike while also recognizing their impact on our lives.
Sophocles highlights the emotional balance one must strike when dealing with feelings towards others, particularly those we dislike. It suggests that while it is natural to experience some grief or negative emotions toward individuals we hate, we should not dwell excessively on such feelings or let them consume us. However, this does not mean to completely forget these individuals, as they may serve as valuable lessons or reminders in our lives.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about emotional health, one might reference this quote to discuss the importance of managing negative feelings.
More from Sophocles
All quotes βNone love the messenger who brings bad news.
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.
Not even Ares battles against necessity.
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.
There is nothing more hateful than bad advice.
Similar quotes
You're born in pain and pain is what we're in most of the time. And I think that the bigger the pain, the more gods we need.
Upon the solution of this problem, or upon sufficient proof of the impossibility of synthetical knowledge a priori, depends the existence or downfall of metaphysics.
Sometimes people leave you halfway through the wood. Others may decieve you - you decide what's good. You decide alone, but no one is alone. People make mistakes. Fathers, mothers, people make mistakes, holding to their own, thinking they're alone. Honor their mistakes. Fight for their mistakes. Witches can be right. Giants can be good. You decide what's right. You decide what's good.
We came to realise - first with astonishment, then bitterness, and finally with indifference - that intellect apparently wasn't the most important thing...not ideas, but the system; not freedom, but drill. We had joined up with enthusiasm and with good will; but they did everything to knock that out of us.
Cities are erected on spiritual columns. Like giant mirrors, they reflect the hearts of their residents. If those hearts darken and lose faith, cities will lose their glamour.
We tend to think human knowledge as progressive; because we know more and more, our parents and grandparents are back numbers. But a contrary theory is possible - that we simply recognize different things at different times and in different ways.