Heaven ne’er helps the men who will not act.

Sophocles (496-406 BC) Greek tragic playwright
Philoctetes, fragment 288 (c. 409 BC)
    (Source)

As translated in Edward Plumptre, The Tragedies of Sophocles, "Fragments," frag. 288 (2d ed., 1878), based on Karl Wilhelm Dindorf's numbering.

Common variant: "Heaven helps not the men who will not act."

The sentiment is a frequently repeated one. For more discussion of this family of quotations, see: God helps those who help themselves - Wikipedia.

Spuriously attributed to Sydney Smith, William Shakespeare, and Cicero. See George Herbert.

 
Added on 19-Aug-10 | Last updated 19-Dec-23
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