Thucydides Quotes

"The strong do what they have to do and the weak accept what they have to accept."
-Thucydides

"The ability to understand a question from all sides meant one was totally unfit for action. Fanatical enthusiasm was the mark of the real man."
-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."
-Thucydides

"We (Greeks) are lovers of the beautiful, yet simple in our tastes, and we cultivate the mind without loss of manliness."
-Thucydides

"A nation that draws too broad a difference between its scholars and its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards, and its fighting done by fools."
-Thucydides

"Few things are brought to a successful issue by impetuous desire, but most by calm and prudent forethought."
-Thucydides

"Justice will not come to Athens until those who are not injured are as indignant as those who are injured."
-Thucydides

"The fact is that one side thinks that the profits to be won outweigh the risks to be incurred, and the other side would rather avoid danger than accept an immediate loss."
-Thucydides in Risk-taking quotes.

"The sufferings that fate inflicts on us should be borne with patience, what enemies inflict with manly courage."
-Thucydides in Chance quotes.

"Self-control is the chief element in self-respect and self-respect is the chief element in courage."
-Thucydides

"We secure our friends not by accepting favors but by doing them."
-Thucydides in Friendship quotes.

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

"Men naturally despise those who court them, but respect those who do not give way to them."
-Thucydides in Agreement quotes.