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Those who have experienced good and bad luck many times have every reason to be skeptical of successes

Thucydides

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Thucydides
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Skeptical

More quotes by Thucydides

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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
Thucydides
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War is a matter not so much of arms as of money.
Thucydides
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Wealth to us is not mere material for vainglory but an opportunity for achievement and poverty we think it no disgrace to acknowledge but a real degredation to make no effort to overcome.
Thucydides
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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
Thucydides
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It must be thoroughly understood that war is a necessity, and that the more readily we accept it,the less will be the ardor of our opponents, and that out of the greatest dangers communities and individuals acquire the greatest glory.
Thucydides
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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
Thucydides
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The growth of the power of Athens, and the alarm which this inspired in Sparta, made war inevitable.
Thucydides
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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.
Thucydides
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We Greeks are lovers of the beautiful, yet simple in our tastes, and we cultivate the mind without loss of manliness.
Thucydides
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In generosity we are equally singular, acquiring our friends by conferring, not by receiving, favours.
Thucydides
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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.
Thucydides
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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.
Thucydides
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We secure our friends not by accepting favours but by doing them.
Thucydides
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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.
Thucydides
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He passes through life most securely who has least reason to reproach himself with complaisance toward his enemies.
Thucydides
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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.
Thucydides
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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.
Thucydides
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Three of the gravest failings, want of sense, of courage, or of vigilance.
Thucydides
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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.
Thucydides
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Self-control is the chief element in self-respect, and respect of self, in turn, is the chief element in courage.
Thucydides