You can now, if you choose, employ your present success to advantage, so as to keep what you have got and gain honour and reputation besides, and you can avoid the mistake of those who meet with an extraordinary piece of good fortune, and are led on by hope to grasp continually at something further, through having already succeeded without expecting it.
ThucydidesWhen will there be justice in Athens? There will be justice in Athens when those who are not injured are as outraged as those who are.
ThucydidesWe Greeks believe that a man who takes no part in public affairs is not merely lazy, but good for nothing
ThucydidesRight, 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.
ThucydidesWhat made the war inevitable was the growth of Athenian power and the fear which this caused in Sparta.
ThucydidesIn 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