For they had learned that true safety was to be found in long previous training, and not in eloquent exhortations uttered when they were going into action.
ThucydidesI have written my work, not as an essay which is to win the applause of the moment, but as a possession for all time
ThucydidesIt is the habit of mankind to entrust to careless hope what they long for, and to use sovereign reason to thrust aside what they do not desire
ThucydidesThe strength of an Army lies in strict discipline and undeviating obedience to its officers.
ThucydidesIn 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.
Thucydides