In practice we always base our preparations against an enemy on the assumption that his plans are good; indeed, it is right to rest our hopes not on a belief in his blunders, but on the soundness of our provisions. Nor ought we to believe that there is much difference between man and man, but to think that the superiority lies with him who is reared in the severest school.
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.
ThucydidesFor men can endure to hear others praised only so long as they can severally persuade themselves of their own ability to equal the actions recounted: when this point is passed, envy comes in and with it incredulity.
ThucydidesFor so remarkably perverse is the nature of man that he despises whoever courts him, and admires whoever will not bend before him.
Thucydides