"A fearful man is always hearing things"
About this Quote
Fear reshapes the senses. When the mind is gripped by dread it becomes a radar that will not stop sweeping, catching echoes where there are none, turning every creak into a footstep and every whisper into a plot. Sophocles condenses this distortion into a single observation: a fearful man is always hearing things. The claim is not about literal auditory hallucination alone, but about the way anxiety primes perception. Hypervigilance, once useful in danger, becomes a habit that invents danger. Expectation dictates experience, so the ear finds what the heart fears.
The line fits the tragic world Sophocles built, where uncertainty, rumor, and prophecy shape human action as much as visible facts. Greek drama often unfolds offstage, reported through messengers and the chorus, so hearing is a charged faculty. Characters who live in fear grant disproportionate authority to hearsay, oracles, and the murmur of the crowd, and they misread hints as warnings. Oedipus trusts testimony until it traps him; Creon lets the fear of disorder inflate dissent into treason. In that light, hearing things is both literal and political: a way paranoia widens its circle.
The saying also reads as civic counsel from a poet who served his city. The Athens of Sophocles knew the volatility of rumor during war and plague. A fearful citizenry becomes easy prey for demagogues, conspiracies, and cycles of accusation; a fearful ruler hears plots in criticism and rules by preemption. Fear, then, is not just a private affliction but a public hazard.
There is a moral invitation embedded in the observation. Courage is not bravado but the discipline to check the story fear tells. Equanimity clears the channel; prudence demands evidence. When the mind steadies, the world quiets, and noises return to their proper size. In tragedy, that calm often arrives too late. In life, it can be chosen before imagination turns rustling leaves into approaching armies.
The line fits the tragic world Sophocles built, where uncertainty, rumor, and prophecy shape human action as much as visible facts. Greek drama often unfolds offstage, reported through messengers and the chorus, so hearing is a charged faculty. Characters who live in fear grant disproportionate authority to hearsay, oracles, and the murmur of the crowd, and they misread hints as warnings. Oedipus trusts testimony until it traps him; Creon lets the fear of disorder inflate dissent into treason. In that light, hearing things is both literal and political: a way paranoia widens its circle.
The saying also reads as civic counsel from a poet who served his city. The Athens of Sophocles knew the volatility of rumor during war and plague. A fearful citizenry becomes easy prey for demagogues, conspiracies, and cycles of accusation; a fearful ruler hears plots in criticism and rules by preemption. Fear, then, is not just a private affliction but a public hazard.
There is a moral invitation embedded in the observation. Courage is not bravado but the discipline to check the story fear tells. Equanimity clears the channel; prudence demands evidence. When the mind steadies, the world quiets, and noises return to their proper size. In tragedy, that calm often arrives too late. In life, it can be chosen before imagination turns rustling leaves into approaching armies.
Quote Details
| Topic | Fear |
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