There is no need to suppose that human beings differ very much one from another; but it is true that the ones who come out on top are the ones who have been trained in the hardest school.

Ignorance is bold and knowledge reserved.

What made the war inevitable was the growth of Athenian power and the fear which this caused in Sparta.

In generosity we are equally singular, acquiring our friends by conferring, not by receiving, favours.

Mankind apparently find it easier to drive away adversity than to retain prosperity.

To be an object of hatred and aversion to their contemporaries has been the usual fate of all those whose merit has raised them above the common level. The man who submits to the shafts of envy for the sake of noble objects pursues a judicious course for his own lasting fame. Hatred dies with its object, while merit soon breaks forth in full splendor, and his glory is handed down to posterity in never-dying strains.

And where the rewards for merit are greatest, there are found the best citizens.