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For men naturally despise those who court them, but respect those who do not give way to them.

Thucydides

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Thucydides
Historian
Court
Respect
Religious
Give
Giving
Way
Men
Despise
Naturally

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Men's indignation, it seems, is more exited by legal wrong than by violent wrong the first looks like being cheated by an equal, the second like being compelled by a superior.
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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.
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Amassing of wealth is an opportunity for good deeds, not hubris
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Mankind are tolerant of the praises of others as 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.
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He passes through life most securely who has least reason to reproach himself with complaisance toward his enemies.
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Three of the gravest failings, want of sense, of courage, or of vigilance.
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Hatred also is short lived but that which makes the splendor of the present and the glory of the future remains forever unforgotten here we bless your simplicity but do not envy your folly.
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For men can endure to hear others praised only so long as they can severally persuade themselves of their own ability to equal the actions recounted: when this point is passed, envy comes in and with it incredulity.
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Abstinence from all injustice to other first-rate powers is a greater tower of strength than anything that can be gained by the sacrifice of permanent tranquillity for an apparent temporary advantage.
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The growth of the power of Athens, and the alarm which this inspired in Sparta, made war inevitable.
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Now the only sure basis of an alliance is for each party to be equally afraid of the other
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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.
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For we both alike know that into the discussion of human affairs the question of justice enters only where the pressure of necessity is equal, and that the powerful exact what they can, and the weak grant what they must.
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Those who have experienced good and bad luck many times have every reason to be skeptical of successes
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... Athenians are addicted to innovation. They are daring beyond their judgment they toil on with little opportunity for enjoying, being ever engaged in getting, they were born into the world to take no rest themselves, and to give none to others.
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I could have wished that the reputations of many brave men were not to be imperilled in the mouth of a single individual, to stand or fall according as he spoke well or ill. For it is hard to speak properly upon a subject where it is even difficult to convince your hearers that you are speaking the truth.
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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.
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In a word I claim that our city as a whole is an education to Greece.
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Stories happen to those who tell them.
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Indeed men too often take upon themselves in the prosecution of their revenge to set the example of doing away with those general laws to which all can look for salvation in adversity, instead of allowing them to subsist against the day of danger when their aid may be required
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