“We Greeks are lovers of the beautiful, yet simple in our tastes, and we cultivate the mind without loss of manliness.”

An avowal of poverty is no disgrace to any man; to make no effort to escape it is indeed disgraceful.

The whole earth is the sepulchre of famous men.

The Thracian people, like the bloodiest of the barbarians, being ever most murderous when it has nothing to fear.

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

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

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.

The secret of freedom, courage.

Of all manifestations of power, restraint impresses men most.

It is a common mistake in going to war to begin at the wrong end, to act first, and wait for disasters to discuss the matter.

Those who have experienced good and bad luck many times have every reason to be skeptical of successes.

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

Stories happen to those who tell them.

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.

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.

Don’t confuse meaning with truth.

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.