The strong do what they have to do and the weak accept what they have to accept.
THUCYDIDESWhen 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.
More Thucydides Quotes
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It is frequently a misfortune to have very brilliant men in charge of affairs. They expect too much of ordinary men.
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And it is certain that those who do not yield to their equals, who keep terms with their superiors, and are moderate towards their inferiors, on the whole succeed best.
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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.
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It is the habit of mankind to entrust to careless hope what they long for, and to use sovereign reason to thrust aside what they do not desire.
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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.
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Knowledge without understanding is useless.
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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.
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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.
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But the prize for courage will surely be awarded most justly to those who best know the difference between hardship and pleasure and yet are never tempted to shrink from danger.
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The strength of an Army lies in strict discipline and undeviating obedience to its officers.
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So little trouble do men take in the search after truth; so readily do they accept whatever comes first to hand.
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Hope is an expensive commodity. It makes better sense to be prepared.
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We must remember that one man is much the same as another, and that he is best who is trained in the severest school.
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He passes through life most securely who has least reason to reproach himself with complaisance toward his enemies.
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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.
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They whose minds are least sensitive to calamity, and whose hands are most quick to meet it, are the greatest men and the greatest communities.
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Those who have experienced good and bad luck many times have every reason to be skeptical of successes.
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For so remarkably perverse is the nature of man that he despises whoever courts him, and admires whoever will not bend before him.
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Don’t confuse meaning with truth.
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The bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them, glory and danger alike, and yet not withstanding go out to meet it.
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An avowal of poverty is no disgrace to any man; to make no effort to escape it is indeed disgraceful.
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The growth of the power of Athens, and the alarm which this inspired in Sparta, made war inevitable.
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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.
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Human nature is the one constant through human history. It is always there.
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We secure our friends not by accepting favours but by doing them.
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Mankind apparently find it easier to drive away adversity than to retain prosperity.
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