If Athens shall appear great to you, consider then that her glories were purchased by valiant men, and by men who learned their duty.

As for poverty, no one need be ashamed to admit it, the real shame is in not taking practical measures to escape from it.

Instead of looking on discussion as a stumbling block in the way of action, we think it an indispensable preliminary to any wise action at all.

We Athenians hold that it is not poverty that is disgraceful but the failure to struggle against it.

Those who can truly be accounted brave are those who best know the meaning of what is sweet in life and what is terrible, and then go out, undeterred, to meet what is to come.

Our form of government does not enter into rivalry with the institutions of others. Our government does not copy our neighbors', but is an example to them. It is true that we are called a democracy, for the administration is in the hands of the many and not of the few. But while there exists equal justice to all and alike in their private disputes, the claim of excellence is also recognized; and when a citizen is in any way distinguished, he is preferred to the public service, not as a matter of privilege, but as the reward of merit

For grief is felt not so much for the want of what we have never known, as for the loss of that to which we have been long accustomed.