For of those [cities] that were great in earlier times, most of them have now become small, while those which were great in my time were small formerly.

If someone were to put a proposition before men bidding them choose, after examination, the best customs in the world, each nation would certainly select its own

Civil strife is as much a greater evil than a concerted war effort as war itself is worse than peace.

Although extraordinary valor was displayed by the entire corps of Spartans and Thespians, yet bravest of all was declared the Spartan Dienekes. It is said that on the eve of battle, he was told by a native of Trachis that the Persian archers were so numerous that, their arrows would block out the sun. Dienekes, however, undaunted by this prospect, remarked with a laugh, 'Good. Then we will fight in the shade.

Good masters generally have bad slaves, and bad slaves have good masters.

Tell Greece that her spring has been taken out of her year.

Those who are skilled in archery bend their bow only when they are preparing to use it; when they do not require it, they allow it to remain unbent, for otherwise it would remain unserviceable when the time for using it arrived. So it is with man. If he were to devote himself unceasingly to a dull round of business, without breaking the monotony by cheerful amusements, he would fall imperceptibly into idiocy, or be struck by paralysis