Love of power, operating through greed and through personal ambition, was the cause of all these evils. Thucydides More Quotes by Thucydides More Quotes From Thucydides 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 yield succeed certain It is men who make a city, not walls or ships. Thucydides wall men travel The Peloponnesian War turns out to be no dry chronicle of abstract cause and effect. No, it is above all an intense, riveting, and timeless story of strong and weak men, of heroes and scoundrels and innocents too, all caught in the fateful circumstances of rebellion, plague, and war that always strip away the veneer of culture and show us for what we really are. Thucydides strong hero war When one is deprived of ones liberty, one is right in blaming not so much the man who puts the shackles on as the one who had the power to prevent him, but did not use it. Thucydides liberty use 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. Thucydides praise long thinking To be an object of hatred and aversion to their contemporaries has been the usual fate of all those whose merit has raised them above the common level. The man who submits to the shafts of envy for the sake of noble objects pursues a judicious course for his own lasting fame. Hatred dies with its object, while merit soon breaks forth in full splendor, and his glory is handed down to posterity in never-dying strains. Thucydides envy fate men We Greeks are lovers of the beautiful, yet simple in our tastes, and we cultivate the mind without loss of manliness. Thucydides simple loss beautiful Mankind apparently find it easier to drive away adversity than to retain prosperity. Thucydides prosperity easier adversity speculation is carried on in safety, but, when it comes to action, fear causes failure. Thucydides safety causes action Happiness depends on being free, and freedom depends on being courageous. Thucydides depends courageous being-free It is a general rule of human nature that people despise those who treat them well, and look up to those who make no concessions. Thucydides politics people looks In general, the men of lower intelligence won out. Afraid of their own shortcomings and of the intelligence of their opponents, so that they would not lose out in reasoned argument or be taken by surprise by their quick-witted opponents, they boldly moved into action. Their enemies,on the contrary, contemptuous and confident in their ability to anticipate, thought there was no need to take by action what they could win by their brains. Thucydides taken winning men It is the habit of mankind to entrust to careless hope what they long for, and to use sovereign reason to thrust aside what they do not desire Thucydides use desire long ... 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. Thucydides innovation opportunity giving In a democracy, someone who fails to get elected to office can always console himself with the thought that there was something not quite fair about it. Thucydides failing democracy office 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 proud clever men 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. Thucydides strong suffering world For they had learned that true safety was to be found in long previous training, and not in eloquent exhortations uttered when they were going into action. Thucydides training safety long Those who have experienced good and bad luck many times have every reason to be skeptical of successes Thucydides modern luck reason Abstinence from all injustice to other first-rate powers is a greater tower of strength than anything that can be gained by the sacrifice of permanent tranquillity for an apparent temporary advantage. Thucydides sacrifice towers firsts
