Men do not rest content with parrying the attacks of a superior, but often strike the first blow to prevent the attack being made.
THUCYDIDESThe 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.
More Thucydides Quotes
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I think the two things most opposed to good counsel are haste and passion; haste usaully goes hand in hand with folly, passion with coarseness and narrowness of mind.
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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.
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I have written my work, not as an essay which is to win the applause of the moment, but as a possession for all time.
THUCYDIDES -
An avowal of poverty is no disgrace to any man; to make no effort to escape it is indeed disgraceful.
THUCYDIDES -
Three of the gravest failings, want of sense, of courage, or of vigilance.
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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.
THUCYDIDES -
Now the only sure basis of an alliance is for each party to be equally afraid of the other.
THUCYDIDES -
Happiness depends on being free, and freedom depends on being courageous.
THUCYDIDES -
For so remarkably perverse is the nature of man that he despises whoever courts him, and admires whoever will not bend before him.
THUCYDIDES -
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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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.
THUCYDIDES -
You shouldn’t feel sorry for the lifestyle you haven’t tasted, but for the one you are about to lose.
THUCYDIDES -
Love of power, operating through greed and through personal ambition, was the cause of all these evils.
THUCYDIDES -
Wars spring from unseen and generally insignificant causes, the first outbreak being often but an explosion of anger.
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I have often before now been convinced that a democracy is incapable of empire.
THUCYDIDES