Quotes from Xenophon

It is always the cunning, not the naïve, who rise to power, and leaders must use artfulness to make any organization whatsoever work well. Yet they must never be guided by cynical and self-serving counsels. If they don't call upon their higher selves, they will descend further into petty egotism and tyrannical behavior. As

Perhaps their attacks on my character meant that the hour was ripe for my career to begin in earnest.   Seize

Seize the Unexpected Opportunity   In

Let me teach you a new way of seeing yourselves in the great scheme of things. We should no longer feel inferior to the men who went before us. Their lives were one long struggle to perform the same deeds that we hold in honor now. Yet, for all their worth, they made few gains for the nation or for themselves. In fact, their enemies seemed to prosper as much as they did. Our forefathers may have displayed wonderful courage, but they failed to reap great rewards." Placing

Your upbringing has made you tough and taught you that success can only be won by hard work. You know what true warriors are. True warriors don't falter when they're called upon to perform feats of great endurance. True warriors don't fall asleep when they ought to remain alert.

We discussed how wonderful it would be if a man could train himself to be both ethical and brave, and to earn all he needed for his household and himself. That kind of man, we agreed, would be appreciated by the whole world. But if a man went further still, if he had the wisdom and the skill to be the guide and governor of other men, supplying all their needs and making them all they ought to be, that would be the greatest thing of all.

today when I think of the treacherous cunning of many men who wear crowns—creatures like the king of Assyria—I can only think of how dishonorable it would be to let them remain in power." I

Why, at any rate, should he think me capable of great conquests, given my limited experience in the field? Early on, you can expect no one to believe in your destiny as much as yourself.

and in general, every ordinance made without the consent of those who are to obey it, is a violence rather than a law. And is

Thalassa, Thalassa!

Obedience Should Not Be the Result of Compulsion  

We're all going to die, but does that mean we have to be buried alive?

Socrates replied: One thing to me is certain, Antiphon; you have conceived so vivid an idea of my life of misery that for yourself you would choose death sooner than live as I do.

He was astonished likewise that they did not see it was impossible for men to comprehend anything of all those wonders, seeing they who have the reputation of being most knowing in them are of quite different opinions, and can agree no better than so many fools and madmen;

Either Plato and Xenophon are involved in a massive cover-up, or there were factors peculiar to Athenian State religion which make Socrates guilty as charged. We can only hope that the former alternative is not the case, since Plato's and Xenophon's accounts are practically our only evidence on Socrates' views.

Because I believed, that the more I obliged him in his Necessity, the more grateful he would be in his prosperity ; tho' I now well see the contrary.

It is the same with horses and with men: all distempers in the early stage are more easily cured than when they have become chronic and have been wrongly treated.

no speech of admonition can be so fine that it will all at once make those who hear it good men if they are not good already; it would surely not make archers good if they had not had previous practice in shooting; neither would it make lancers good, nor horsemen; it cannot even make men able to endure bodily labour, unless they have been trained to it before.

A Number of Friends is of more Worth than a Flock of Sheep, or of Goats, or than a Herd of Oxen.

You're a good friend, Apollodorus, but would you rather see me put to death justly or unjustly?

for, if it were suspected that you did not gratefully resent the benefits conferred on you by your parents, no man could believe you would be grateful for any kind actions that others might do you.

So violence is not to be expected of those who exercise reason; such conduct belongs to those who have strength without judgement.

Anyone who imprisoned people on the ground of ignorance might fairly be confined himself by those who understood what he did not.

And therefore, a Man who should neglect to render himself capable of such an employment, and yet pretend to it, ought to be severely punished.