Ignorance is bold and knowledge reserved.

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.

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

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

Athens' biggest worry was the sheer recklessness of its own democratic government. A simple majority of the citizenry, urged on and incensed by clever demagogues, might capriciously send out military forces in unnecessary and exhausting adventures.

It is men who make a city, not walls or ships.

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