Quote

I have often before now been convinced that a democracy is incapable of empire.

Thucydides

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Thucydides
Historian
Incapable
Convinced
Democracy
Often
Empire
Empires

More quotes by Thucydides

Image
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
Image
Stories happen to those who tell them.
Thucydides
Image
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
Thucydides
Image
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
Image
Of all manifestations of power, restraint impresses men most.
Thucydides
Image
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.
Thucydides
Image
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
Image
It is men who make a city, not walls or ships.
Thucydides
Image
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.
Thucydides
Image
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.
Thucydides
Image
So little trouble do men take in the search after truth so readily do they accept whatever comes first to hand.
Thucydides
Image
Three of the gravest failings, want of sense, of courage, or of vigilance.
Thucydides
Image
War is an evil thing but to submit to the dictation of other states is worse.... Freedom, if we hold fast to it, will ultimately restore our losses, but submission will mean permanent loss of all that we value.... To you who call yourselves men of peace, I say: You are not safe unless you have men of action on your side.
Thucydides
Image
speculation is carried on in safety, but, when it comes to action, fear causes failure.
Thucydides
Image
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
Image
Mankind apparently find it easier to drive away adversity than to retain prosperity.
Thucydides
Image
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
Image
The growth of the power of Athens, and the alarm which this inspired in Sparta, made war inevitable.
Thucydides
Image
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
Image
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.
Thucydides