Quotes by Thucydides

“We Greeks believe that a man who takes no part in public affairs is not merely lazy, but good for nothing”

“For the whole earth is the tomb of famous men; not only are they commemorated by columns and inscriptions in their own country, but in foreign lands there dwells also an unwritten memorial of them,...”

“You know and we know, as practical men that the question of justice arises only between parties equal in strength and that the strong do what they can, and the weak suffer what they must.”

“Right, as the world goes, is only in question between equals in power, while the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must.”

“Self-control is the chief element in self-respect, and self-respect is the chief element in courage.”

“I think the two things most opposed to good counsel are haste and passion; haste usaully goes hand in hand with folly, passion with coarseness and narrowness of mind.”

“The absence of romance in my history will, I fear, detract somewhat from its interest, but if it is judged worthy by those inquirers who desire an exact knowledge of the past as an aid to the under...”

“Indeed it is generally the case that men are readier to call rogues clever than simpletons honest, and are ashamed of being the second as they are proud of being the first.”

“People are inclined to accept all stories of ancient times in an uncritical way -even when those stories concern their own native counties...Most people, in fact, will not take trouble in finding o...”

“Mankind are tolerant of the praises of others as long as each hearer thinks that he can do as well or nearly as well himself, but, when the speaker rises above him, jealousy is aroused and he begin...”

“Men's indignation, it seems, is more exited by legal wrong than by violent wrong; the first looks like being cheated by an equal, the second like being compelled by a superior.”

“You know well as I do that when we are talking on the human plane, questions of justice only arise when there is equal power to compel: in terms of practicality the dominant exact what they can and...”

“In a democracy, someone who fails to get elected to office can always console himself with the thought that there was something not quite fair about it.”

“I am a congenital optimist about America, but I worry that American democracy is exhibiting fatal symptoms. DC has become an acronym for Dysfunctional Capital: a swamp in which partisanship has gro...”

“Difficulty of subsistence made the invaders reduce the numbers of the army to a point at which it might live on the country during the prosecution of the war.”

“It is frequently a misfortune to have very brilliant men in charge of affairs. They expect too much of ordinary men.”

“History is Philosophy teaching by example.”

“The secret to happiness is freedom... And the secret to freedom is courage.”

“Ignorance is bold and knowledge reserved.”

“Wars spring from unseen and generally insignificant causes, the first outbreak being often but an explosion of anger.”