“I was not born to share hatred, but love.”Sofocle · Antigona · -441 · versul 523
Hate is always borrowed and consumes you; love is what you were born with and defines you.
In Antigone's mouth, as she buries her brother against a royal ban, the line becomes a law about humanity, not a personal declaration. Antigone does not hate Creon when she defies him; she acts from love for her dead. Sophocles suggests that hatred is always borrowed, reactive, dependent on its object, while love is something we are born with. Whoever chooses hatred betrays themselves more than they betray others.
Why it matters It serves anyone tempted to build an identity out of enemies: hatred consumes you, love defines you.