Quote #53733
Of all human ills, greatest is fortune’s wayward tyranny.
Sophocles
About This Quote
This quote needs no introduction—at least for now. We're working on adding more context soon.
Interpretation
The line laments the instability of human life under the sway of “fortune” (Greek tyche): what harms people most is not a single vice or enemy, but the arbitrary reversals of circumstance that can elevate and ruin without regard to merit. Read this way, the “tyranny” is fortune’s power to dominate human plans and moral deserts, making suffering feel both undeserved and unavoidable. In Sophoclean tragedy, such reflections often underscore a world where human agency is real yet limited, and where prosperity can be precarious—inviting humility in success and endurance in disaster.
