1. “Now my curse on the murderer. Whoever he is, a lone man unknown in his crime or one among many, let that man drag out his life in agony, step by painful step.”
2. “Oedipus, my sovereign lord and king, you see how ill our city sleeps and labors.”
3. “Here I am—my voice raised in prayer, kneeling at your altars as I can, ill-starred Oedipus, your world-renowned king.”
4. “My spirit groans for city and myself and you, my lord—I grieve for you and for the land, and for myself.”
5. “And if in truth you prove the son of Laius, then may you prosper well, and go your way; but if you prove to be what I suspect, a foreigner from a distant land, flinging reproaches at us, and casting insults, not in fear but in insolence, why then I pray that you may come to no good end.”
6. “You pray for my good fortune, yet you sit here with your shrouded head, while trouble dogs you and you grieve.”
7. “I am but as a child new-born to misery.”
8. “Thebes is my city, and the son of Polybus, who gave me birth.”
9. “I count myself the son of Chance, the child of Fortune, farthest from the house of the happiest of men.”
10. “The terror of your kingship, and the fear, I pray you cast it from you, speak to these men more mildly.”
11. “Upon your life and upon your kingship’s life, answer my question.”
12. “Oedipus, my lord, I would not thwart you in such a matter; but there are other things I cannot brook.”
13. “Woe is me! O me, wretched!”
14. “But where have you become so rich? From what adventures have you brought this wealth?”
15. “Who ever loved his father better? Who, more nobly than his noble father, sought to save his sons from wrong?”
16. “I say that you are the murderer whom you seek.”
17. “If in my curse you find one word untrue, may I be proved a prophet by your fall!”
18. “You are a doomed man, Oedipus, for all your cleverness.”
19. “You have no right to chatter; you are blind in mind and ears as well as in your eyes.”
20. “Not one of you can be too miserable, for I count myself as well as you. And as for this man, I think that for him my coming was the bitterest of all.”
21. “Ah, miserable! Born of misery, whose life, I see, is misery.”
22. “Alas, alas, what misery to be wise when wisdom profits nothing!”
23. “I have suffered ill and done it; it is my fate; I will not make it worse by grieving.”
24. “I charge you, my children, begone at once and leave me alone to bear my woe.”
25. “I am the child of Chance, the hapless Oedipus.”
26. “The evils which you suffer, you alone of all men suffer.”
27. “No man will ever be rooted out of a city, without my consent and knowledge.”
28. “If you could comprehend your own calamities, you would not desire my overthrow.”
29. “But I pronounce a curse upon the murderer. May he wear out his life in misery to miserable doom!”
30. “Behold this Oedipus, him who knew the famous riddles and was a man most masterful; not a citizen who did not look with envy on his lot.”
31. “Now, as we keep our watch and wait the final day, count no man happy till he dies, free of pain at last.”
These quotes capture some of the key themes and dramatic moments in “Oedipus the King,” a classic Greek tragedy that explores fate, prophecy, and the consequences of one’s actions.
