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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.
Thucydides
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Thucydides
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More quotes by Thucydides
... 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 have often before now been convinced that a democracy is incapable of empire.
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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.
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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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In generosity we are equally singular, acquiring our friends by conferring, not by receiving, favours.
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speculation is carried on in safety, but, when it comes to action, fear causes failure.
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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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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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...knowing the secret of happiness to be freedom, and the secret of freedom a brave heart, not idly to stand aside from the enemy's onset.
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It is useless to attack men who could not be controlled even if conquered, while failure would leave us in an even worse position.
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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.
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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.
Thucydides
We secure our friends not by accepting favours but by doing them.
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War is a matter not so much of arms as of money.
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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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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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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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we know that there can never be any solid friendship between individuals, or union between communities that is worth the name, unless the parties be persuaded of each others honesty
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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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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
