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

Thucydides

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Thucydides
Historian
Gravest
Failings
Vigilance
Failing
Courage
Sense
Three

More quotes by Thucydides

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War is a matter not so much of arms as of money.
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Men do not rest content with parrying the attacks of a superior, but often strike the first blow to prevent the attack being made.
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In a word I claim that our city as a whole is an education to Greece.
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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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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.
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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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We secure our friends not by accepting favours but by doing them.
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Be convinced that to be happy means to be free and that to be free means to be brave. Therefore do not take lightly the perils of war.
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The superior gratification derived from the use and contemplation of costly and supposedly beautiful products is, commonly, in great measure a gratification of our sense of costliness masquerading under the name of beauty.
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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.
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As for democracy, the men of sense among us knew what it was, and I perhaps as well as any, as I have more cause to complain of it but there is nothing new to be said of a patent absurdity-meanwhile we did not think it safe to alter it under the pressure of your hostility.
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Remember that this greatness was won by men with courage, with knowledge of their duty, and with a sense of honor in action.
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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 notwithstanding go out to meet it.
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We must not disguise from ourselves that we go to found a city among strangers and enemies, and he who undertakes such an enterprise should be prepared to become master of the country the first day he lands, or failing in this find everything hostile to him.
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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.
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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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Amassing of wealth is an opportunity for good deeds, not hubris
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It is men who make a city, not walls or ships.
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If it had not been for the pernicious power of envy, men would not so have exalted vengeance above innocence and profit above justice... in these acts of revenge on others, men take it upon themselves to begin the process of repealing those general laws of humanity which are there to give a hope of salvation to all who are in distress.
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In generosity we are equally singular, acquiring our friends by conferring, not by receiving, favours.
Thucydides