Love of power, operating through greed and through personal ambition, was the cause of all these evils.
Thucydides... Athenians are addicted to innovation. They are daring beyond their judgment they toil on with little opportunity for enjoying, being ever engaged in getting, they were born into the world to take no rest themselves, and to give none to others.
ThucydidesAn avowal of poverty is no disgrace to any man; to make no effort to escape it is indeed disgraceful.
ThucydidesYou can now, if you choose, employ your present success to advantage, so as to keep what you have got and gain honour and reputation besides, and you can avoid the mistake of those who meet with an extraordinary piece of good fortune, and are led on by hope to grasp continually at something further, through having already succeeded without expecting it.
Thucydides