It is useless to attack men who could not be controlled even if conquered, while failure would leave us in an even worse position.
ThucydidesLove of power, operating through greed and through personal ambition, was the cause of all these evils.
ThucydidesThey whose minds are least sensitive to calamity, and whose hands are most quick to meet it, are the greatest men and the greatest communities.
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