A quotation by Sophocles

And speech he has learned, and thought

So swift, and the temper of mind

To dwell within cities, and not to lie bare

Amid the keen, biting frosts

Or cower beneath pelting rain;

Full of resource against all that comes to him

is Man. Against Death alone

He is left with no defence.

[καὶ φθέγμα καὶ ἀνεμόεν φρόνημα καὶ ἀστυνόμους

ὀργὰς ἐδιδάξατο καὶ δυσαύλων

πάγων ὑπαίθρεια καὶ δύσομβρα φεύγειν βέλη

παντοπόρος: ἄπορος ἐπ᾽ οὐδὲν ἔρχεται

τὸ μέλλον: Ἅιδα μόνον φεῦξιν οὐκ ἐπάξεται.]

Sophocles (496-406 BC) Greek tragic playwright

Antigone, l. 354ff, Stasimon 1, Strophe 2 [Chorus] (441 BC) [tr. Kitto (1962)]

#quotation #quote #achievement #civilization #humanity #mind #mortality #progress #resourcefulness #speech #thought #weather

More notes and sourcing on WIST: https://wist.info/sophocles/46782/

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