We know that there can never be any solid friendship between individuals, or union between communities that is worth the name, unless the parties be persuaded of each others honesty
THUCYDIDESI am not blaming those who are resolved to rule, only those who show an even greater readiness to submit.
More Thucydides Quotes
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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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Men do not rest content with parrying the attacks of a superior, but often strike the first blow to prevent the attack being made.
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The peoples of the Mediterranean began to emerge from barbarism when they learned to cultivate the olive and the vine.
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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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Few things are brought to a successful issue by impetuous desire, but most by calm and prudent forethought.
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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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You should punish in the same manner those who commit crimes with those who accuse falsely.
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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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Contempt for an assailant is best shown by bravery in action.
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When a man finds a conclusion agreeable, he accepts it without argument, but when he finds it disagreeable, he will bring against it all the forces of logic and reason.
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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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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.
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It is useless to attack men who could not be controlled even if conquered, while failure would leave us in an even worse position.
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Concessions to adversaries only end in self reproach, and the more strictly they are avoided the greater will be the chance of security.
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They are surely to be esteemed the bravest spirits who, having the clearest sense of both the pains and pleasures of life, do not on that account shrink from danger.
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Knowledge without understanding is useless.
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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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We Greeks believe that a man who takes no part in public affairs is not merely lazy, but good for nothing.
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Hope, danger’s comforter.
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Of the gods we believe, and of men we know, that by a necessary law of their nature they rule wherever they can.
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The secret of happiness is freedom and the secret of freedom is courage.
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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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An avowal of poverty is no disgrace to any man; to make no effort to escape it is indeed disgraceful.
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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.
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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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Now the only sure basis of an alliance is for each party to be equally afraid of the other.
THUCYDIDES