Quotes from Ancient Times

Thucydides (471 BC - 400 BC)

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

The secret of Happiness is Freedom, and the secret of Freedom, Courage.

The sufferings that fate inflicts on us should be borne with patience, what enemies inflict with manly courage.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

Men naturally despise those who court them, but respect those who do not give way to them.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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 what they can, and the weak grant what they must.

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.

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.

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

It is a common mistake in going to war to begin at the wrong end, to act first, and wait for disasters to discuss the matter.

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.

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.

An avowal of poverty is no disgrace to any man; to make no effort to escape it is indeed disgraceful.

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

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.

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.

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.

The strength of an Army lies in strict discipline and undeviating obedience to its officers.

Men naturally despise those who court them, but respect those who do not give way to them.

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

Memorable Quotes