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Thucydides QUOTES

Thucydides QUOTES

41 " To be happy means to be free and to be free means to be brave. Therefore do not take lightly the perils of war. "

― Thucydides ,

42 " Mankind are tolerant of the praises of others so long as each hearer thinks that he can do as well or nearly as well himself, but, when the speaker rises above him, jealousy is aroused and he begins to be incredulous. "

― Thucydides ,

43 " And do not imagine that what we are fighting for is simply the question of freedom or slavery: there is also involved the loss of our empire and the dangers arising from the hatred which we have incurred in administering it. Nor is it any longer possible for you to give up this empire, though there may be some people who in a mood of sudden panic and in a spirit of political apathy actually think that this would be a fine and noble thing to do. Your empire is now like a tyranny: it may have been wrong to take it; it is certainly dangerous to let it go. "

― Thucydides , History of the Peloponnesian War

44 " ...good deeds can be shortly stated but where wrong is done a wealth of language is needed to veil its deformity. "

― Thucydides , History of the Peloponnesian War

45 " I am more afraid of our own blunders than of the enemy's devices. "

― Thucydides , History of the Peloponnesian War

46 " People are inclined to accept all stories of ancient times in an uncritical way – even when these stories concern their own native countries. "

― Thucydides , History of the Peloponnesian War

47 " Most people, in fact, will not take trouble in finding out the truth, but are much more inclined to accept the first story they hear. "

― Thucydides , History of the Peloponnesian War

48 " 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 "

― Thucydides

49 " the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must. "

― Thucydides , History of the Peloponnesian War

50 " And yet, Lacedaemonians, you still delay, and fail to see that peace stays longest with those, who are not more careful to use their power justly than to show their determination not to submit to injustice. On the contrary, your ideal of fair dealing is based on the principle that, if you do not injure others, you need not risk your own fortunes in preventing others from injuring you. "

― Thucydides , History of the Peloponnesian War

51 " If you have the power to put a stop to subjugation, yet look the other way while it happens, then you have done it yourselves, "

― Thucydides , On Justice, Power and Human Nature: Selections from The History of the Peloponnesian War

52 " War is a violent teacher, "

― Thucydides , On Justice, Power and Human Nature: Selections from The History of the Peloponnesian War

53 " ...when these matters are discussed by practical people, the standard of justice depends on the equality of power to compel... "

― Thucydides

54 " You have become regular speech-goers, and as for action, you merely listen to accounts of it; if something is to be done in the future you estimate the possibilities by hearing a good speech on the subject, and as for the past you rely not so much on the facts which you have seen with your own eyes as on what you have heard about them in some clever piece of verbal criticism. Any novelty in an argument deceives you at once, but when the argument is tried and proved you become unwilling to follow it; you look with suspicion on what is normal and are the slaves of every paradox that comes your way. The chief wish of each one of you is to be able to make a speech himself, and, if you cannot do that, the next best thing is to compete with those who can make this sort of speech by not looking as though you were at all out of your depth while you listen to the views put forward, by applauding a good point even before it is made, and by being as quick at seeing how an argument is going to be developed as you are slow at understanding what in the end it will lead to. What you are looking for all the time is something that is, I should say, outside the range of ordinary experience, and yet you cannot even think straight about the facts of life that are before you. You are simply victims of your own pleasure in listening, and are more like an audience sitting at the feet of a professional lecturer than a parliament discussing matters of state. "

― Thucydides , History of the Peloponnesian War

55 " We all look with distaste on people who arrogantly pretend to a reputation to which they are not entitled; but equally to be condemned are those who, through lack of moral fibre, fail to live up to the reputation which is theirs already. "

― Thucydides , History of the Peloponnesian War

56 " To feel pity, to be carried away by the pleasure of hearing a clever argument, to listen to the claims of decency are three things that are entirely against the interests of an imperial power. "

― Thucydides , History of the Peloponnesian War

57 " a city is better off with bad laws, so long as they remain fixed, than with good laws that are constantly being altered, that lack of learning combined with sound common sense is more helpful than the kind of cleverness that gets out of hand, and that as a general rule states are better governed by the man in the street than by intellectuals. "

― Thucydides , History of the Peloponnesian War

58 " it is a general rule of human nature that people despise those who treat them well and look up to those who make no concessions. "

― Thucydides , History of the Peloponnesian War

59 " The way that most men deal with traditions, even traditions of their own country, is to receive them all alike as they are delivered, without applying any critical test whatever. "

― Thucydides , The Landmark Thucydides: A Comprehensive Guide to the Peloponnesian War

60 " if one follows one’s self-interest one wants to be safe, whereas the path of justice and honour involves one in danger. "

― Thucydides , History of the Peloponnesian War