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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.

Thucydides

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Thucydides
Historian
Terms
Succeed
Moderate
Term
Moderates
Keep
Equals
Certain
Inferiors
Best
Yield
Whole
Superiors
Towards

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In peace and prosperity states and individuals have better sentiments, because they do not find themselves suddenly confronted with imperious necessities but war takes away the easy supply of daily wants and so proves a rough master that brings most men's characters to a level with their fortunes
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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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Full of hopes beyond their power though not beyond their ambition.
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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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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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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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He passes through life most securely who has least reason to reproach himself with complaisance toward his enemies.
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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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when night came on, the Macedonians and the barbarian crowd suddenly took fright in one of those mysterious panics to which great armies are liable
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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
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But the prize for courage will surely be awarded most justly to those who best know the difference between hardship and pleasure and yet are never tempted to shrink from danger.
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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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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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It is men who make a city, not walls or ships.
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Boasting and bravado may exist in the breast even of the coward, if he is successful through a mere lucky hit but a just contempt of an enemy can alone arise in those who feel that they are superior to their opponent by the prudence of their measures.
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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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So little trouble do men take in the search after truth so readily do they accept whatever comes first to hand.
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War is a matter not so much of arms as of money.
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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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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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