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Contempt for an assailant is best shown by bravery in action.

Thucydides

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
THUCYDIDES

Community Each Other Friendship Honesty Name Party Solid Worth
Three of the gravest failings, want of sense, of courage, or of vigilance.
THUCYDIDES

Courage Failure Need Sense
The growth of the power of Athens, and the alarm which this inspired in Sparta, made war inevitable.
THUCYDIDES

Alarm Growth Power War
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.
THUCYDIDES

Calm Community Greatness Hands Man Mindset Sensitive
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.
THUCYDIDES

Equality Power Question Right Strong Suffering Weakness World
The whole earth is the sepulchre of famous men.
THUCYDIDES

Earth Fame Famous Man Place
Speculation is carried on in safety, but, when it comes to action, fear causes failure.
THUCYDIDES

Action Carry Failure Fear Safety
It is men who make a city, not walls or ships.
THUCYDIDES

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

Fear Growth Reason War
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.
THUCYDIDES

Behavior Best Equality Success Superior Treat
You should punish in the same manner those who commit crimes with those who accuse falsely.
THUCYDIDES

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

Adversity Avoid Chance End Greatness Security Strict
People get into the habit of entrusting the things they desire to wishful thinking, and subjecting things they don’t desire to exhaustive thinking.
THUCYDIDES

Desire Habit People Subject Thinking Trust
History is Philosophy teaching by example.
THUCYDIDES

Example History Teaching
War is a matter not so much of arms as of money.
THUCYDIDES

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

Blood Fear Murder Nature People

Contempt for an assailant is best shown by bravery in action.

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Contempt for an assailant is best shown by bravery in action.

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