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
We secure our friends not by accepting favors but by doing them. - Thucydides
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 when they can, and the weak grant what they must. - Thucydides
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
We Greeks believe that a man who takes no part in public affairs is not merely lazy, but good for nothing - Thucydides
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) - Thucydides
The secret of Happiness is Freedom, and the secret of Freedom, Courage. - Thucydides
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. - Thucydides
The sufferings that fate inflicts on us should be borne with patience, what enemies inflict with manly courage. - 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
Self-control is the chief element in self-respect and self-respect is the chief element in courage. - Thucydides