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Of all manifestations of power, restraint impresses men most.

Thucydides

The growth of the power of Athens, and the alarm which this inspired in Sparta, made war inevitable.
THUCYDIDES

Alarm Growth Power War
We secure our friends not by accepting favours but by doing them.
THUCYDIDES

Acceptance Action Friendship Security
So little trouble do men take in the search after truth; so readily do they accept whatever comes first to hand.
THUCYDIDES

Acceptance Hands Man Search Trouble Truth
Three of the gravest failings, want of sense, of courage, or of vigilance.
THUCYDIDES

Courage Failure Need Sense
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.
THUCYDIDES

Equality Power Question Right Strong Suffering Weakness World
For they had learned that true safety was to be found in long previous training, and not in eloquent exhortations uttered when they were going into action.
THUCYDIDES

Action Learning Safety Training True
Remember that this greatness was won by men with courage, with knowledge of their duty, and with a sense of honor in action.
THUCYDIDES

Action Courage Greatness Man Remember Win
The strong do what they have to do and the weak accept what they have to accept.
THUCYDIDES

Acceptance Strong Weakness
The cause of all these evils was the lust for power arising from greed and ambition; and from these passions proceeded the violence of parties once engaged in contention.
THUCYDIDES

Ambition Content Engagement Evil Lust Party Power Rise Violence
Now the only sure basis of an alliance is for each party to be equally afraid of the other.
THUCYDIDES

Afraid Basis Equality Fear Party
It is men who make a city, not walls or ships.
THUCYDIDES

Infrastructure Man Wall
Men do not rest content with parrying the attacks of a superior, but often strike the first blow to prevent the attack being made.
THUCYDIDES

Attack Man Prevent Rest Superior
An avowal of poverty is no disgrace to any man; to make no effort to escape it is indeed disgraceful.
THUCYDIDES

Effort Escape Grace Man Poverty
You shouldn’t feel sorry for the lifestyle you haven’t tasted, but for the one you are about to lose.
THUCYDIDES

Feeling Life Lose Style Taste Yourself
Of the gods we believe, and of men we know, that by a necessary law of their nature they rule wherever they can.
THUCYDIDES

Believe God Law Man Nature Necessary Rule
Mankind apparently find it easier to drive away adversity than to retain prosperity.
THUCYDIDES

Drive Easy Finding Kind Man Prosperity

Of all manifestations of power, restraint impresses men most.

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Of all manifestations of power, restraint impresses men most.

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