“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.”

We Greeks believe that a man who takes no part in public affairs is not merely lazy, but good for nothing.

knowing the secret of happiness to be freedom, and the secret of freedom a brave heart, not idly to stand aside from the enemy’s onset.

For so remarkably perverse is the nature of man that he despises whoever courts him, and admires whoever will not bend before him.

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.

Those who really deserve praise are the people who, while human enough to enjoy power, nevertheless pay more attention to justice than they are compelled to do by their situation.

Hope is an expensive commodity. It makes better sense to be prepared.

What made the war inevitable was the growth of Athenian power and the fear which this caused in Sparta.

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.

You shouldn’t feel sorry for the lifestyle you haven’t tasted, but for the one you are about to lose.

Concessions to adversaries only end in self reproach, and the more strictly they are avoided the greater will be the chance of security.

Three of the gravest failings, want of sense, of courage, or of vigilance.

Amassing of wealth is an opportunity for good deeds, not hubris.

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.

Few things are brought to a successful issue by impetuous desire, but most by calm and prudent forethought.

It is men who make a city, not walls or ships.

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.