Thucydides

“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.”

“We secure our friends not by accepting favors but by doing them.”

“Few things are brought to a successful issue by impetuous desire, but most by calm and prudent forethought.”

“For the whole earth is the tomb of famous men; not only are they commemorated by columns and inscriptions in their own country, but in foreign lands there dwells also an unwritten memorial of them, graven not on stone but in the hearts of men. Make them your examples, and, esteeming courage to be freedom and freedom to be happiness, do not weigh too nicely the perils of war."[Funeral Oration of Pericles]”

“We Greeks are lovers of the beautiful, yet simple in our tastes, and we cultivate the mind without loss of manliness.”

“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.”

“Justice will not come to Athens until those who are not injured are as indignant as those who are injured.”

“We should remember that one man is much the same as another, and that he is best who is trained in the severest school.”

“The absence of romance in my history will, I fear, detract somewhat from its interest, but if it is judged worthy by those inquirers who desire an exact knowledge of the past as an aid to the understanding of the future, which in the course of human things must resemble if it does not reflect it, I shall be content.In fine I have written my work not as an essay with which to win the applause of the moment but as a possession for all time.”

“You know well as I do that when we are talking on the human plane, questions of justice only arise when there is equal power to compel: in terms of practicality the dominant exact what they can and the weak concede what they must. (Said by Athenian envoy to the Melians)”

“The secret to happiness is freedom... And the secret to freedom is courage.”

“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.”

“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.”

“Wars spring from unseen and generally insignificant causes, the first outbreak being often but an explosion of anger.”

“It is frequently a misfortune to have very brilliant men in charge of affairs. They expect too much of ordinary men.”

“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.”

“History is Philosophy teaching by example.”

“Ignorance is bold and knowledge reserved.”

“Men's indignation, it seems, is more excited by legal wrong than by violent wrong; the first looks like being cheated by an equal, the second like being compelled by a superior.”

“We Greeks believe that a man who takes no part in public affairs is not merely lazy, but good for nothing”