Quotes from Thucydides

Be convinced that to be happy means to be free and that to be free means to be brave. Therefore do not take lightly the perils of war.

But the bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them, glory and danger alike, and yet notwithstanding go out to meet it.

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

Thucydides, an Athenian, wrote the history of the war between the Peloponnesians and the Athenians; he began at the moment that it broke out, believing that it would be a great war, and more memorable than any that had preceded it.

This was the greatest event in the war, or, in my opinion, in Greek history; at once most glorious to the victors and most calamitous to the conquered. They were beaten at all points and altogether; their sufferings in every way were great. They were totally destroyed—their fleet, their army, everything—and few out of many returned home. So ended the Sicilian expedition.

A nation that draws too broad a difference between its scholars and its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards, and its fighting done by fools.

The secret of Happiness is Freedom, and the secret of Freedom, Courage.

The sufferings that fate inflicts on us should be borne with patience, what enemies inflict with manly courage.

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

Most people, in fact, will not take the trouble in finding out the truth, but are much more inclined to accept the first story they hear.

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.

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, graven not on stone but in the hearts of men. Make them your examples, and, esteeming courage to be freedom and freedom to be happiness, do not weigh too nicely the perils of war." [Funeral Oration of Pericles]

Ignorance is bold, and knowledge is reserved

You should punish in the same manner those who commit crimes with those who accuse falsely.

When will there be justice in Athens? There will be justice in Athens when those who are not injured are as outraged as those who are.

When one is deprived of ones liberty, one is right in blaming not so much the man who puts the shackles on as the one who had the power to prevent him, but did not use it.

In practice we always base our preparations against an enemy on the assumption that his plans are good; indeed, it is right to rest our hopes not on a belief in his blunders, but on the soundness of our provisions. Nor ought we to believe that there is much difference between man and man, but to think that the superiority lies with him who is reared in the severest school.

In general, the men of lower intelligence won out. Afraid of their own shortcomings and of the intelligence of their opponents, so that they would not lose out in reasoned argument or be taken by surprise by their quick-witted opponents, they boldly moved into action. Their enemies,on the contrary, contemptuous and confident in their ability to anticipate, thought there was no need to take by action what they could win by their brains.

Peace is an armistice in a war that is continuously going on.

Men who are capable of real action first make their plans and then go forward without hesitation while their enemies have still not made up their minds.

My work is not a piece of writing designed to meet the needs of an immediate public, but was done to last for ever.

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 understanding of the future, which in the course of human things must resemble if it does not reflect it, I shall be content. In fine I have written my work not as an essay with which to win the applause of the moment but as a possession for all time.

A man who has the knowledge but lacks the power clearly to express it is no better off than if he never had any ideas at all.

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