Thucydides Quotes & Sayings

Hope is an expensive commodity. It makes better sense to be prepared. — Thucydides

You should punish in the same manner those who commit crimes with those who accuse falsely. — Thucydides

For so remarkably perverse is the nature of man that he despises whoever courts him, and admires whoever will not bend before him. — Thucydides

War is an evil thing; but to submit to the dictation of other states is worse ... Freedom, if we hold fast to it, will ultimately restore our losses, but submission will mean permanent loss of all that we value ... To you who call yourselves men of peace, I say: You are not safe unless you have men of action on your side. — Thucydides

My work is not a piece of writing designed to meet the needs of an immediate public, but was done to last for ever. — Thucydides

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. — Thucydides

Ignorance is bold, and knowledge is reserved — Thucydides

Now the only sure basis of an alliance is for each party to be equally afraid of the other — Thucydides

In small moment of time, the climax of their lives, a culmination of glory, not of fear, were swept away from us. — Thucydides

It is useless to attack a man who could not be controlled even if conquered, while failure would leave us in an even worse position. — 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. — Thucydides

The bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them, glory and danger alike, and yet notwithstanding, go out to meet it. — Thucydides

And it is certain that those who do not yield to their equals, who keep terms with their superiors, and are moderate towards their inferiors, on the whole succeed best. — Thucydides

a collision at sea will ruin your entire day — Thucydides

Besides, I know the Athenian character from experience: you like to be told pleasant news, but if things do not turn out in the way you have been led to expect, then you blame your informants afterwards. I therefore thought it safer to let you know the truth. — Thucydides

You shouldn't feel sorry for the lifestyle you haven't tasted, but for the one you are about to lose — Thucydides

Contempt for an assailant is best shown by bravery in action. — Thucydides

Boasting and bravado may exist in the breast even of the coward, if he is successful through a mere lucky hit; but a just contempt of an enemy can alone arise in those who feel that they are superior to their opponent by the prudence of their measures. — Thucydides

For we both alike know that into the discussion of human affairs the question of justice enters only where the pressure of necessity is equal, and that the powerful exact what they can, and the weak grant what they must. — Thucydides

When night came on, the Macedonians and the barbarian crowd suddenly took fright in one of those mysterious panics to which great armies are liable — Thucydides

You may be sure that we are as well aware as you of the difficulty of contending against your power and fortune, unless the terms be equal. But we trust that the gods may grant us fortune as good as yours, since we are just men fighting against unjust, and that what we want in power will be made up by the alliance of the Lacedaemonians, who are bound, if only for very shame, to come to the aid of their kindred. Our confidence, therefore, after all is not so utterly irrational.
— Thucydides

He passes through life most securely who has least reason to reproach himself with complaisance toward his enemies. — Thucydides

War is a matter not so much of arms as of money. — Thucydides

As for democracy, the men of sense among us knew what it was, and I perhaps as well as any, as I have more cause to complain of it; but there is nothing new to be said of a patent absurdity-meanwhile we did not think it safe to alter it under the pressure of your hostility. — Thucydides

For 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. — Thucydides

Indeed men too often take upon themselves in the prosecution of their revenge to set the example of doing away with those general laws to which all can look for salvation in adversity, instead of allowing them to subsist against the day of danger when their aid may be required — Thucydides

With reference to the narrative of events, far from permitting myself to derive it from the first source that came to hand, I did not even trust my own impressions, but it rests partly on what I saw myself, partly on what others saw for me, the accuracy of the report always being tried by the most severe and detailed tests possible. My conclusions have cost me some labor from the want of coincidence between accounts of the same occurrences by different eye-witnesses, arising sometimes from imperfect memory, sometimes from undue partiality for one side or the other. — Thucydides

We must not disguise from ourselves that we go to found a city among strangers and enemies, and he who undertakes such an enterprise should be prepared to become master of the country the first day he lands, or failing in this find everything hostile to him. — Thucydides

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

Most people, in fact, will not take the trouble in finding out the truth, but are much more inclined to accept the first story they hear. — Thucydides

In a word I claim that our city as a whole is an education to Greece. — Thucydides

The absence of romance in my history will, I fear, detract somewhat from its interest, but if it is judged worthy by those inquirers who desire an exact knowledge of the past as an aid to the understanding of the future, which in the course of human things must resemble if it does not reflect it, I shall be content.
In fine I have written my work not as an essay with which to win the applause of the moment but as a possession for all time. — Thucydides

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

It is men who make a city, not walls or ships. — Thucydides

Still hope leads men to venture; and no one ever yet put himself in peril without the inward conviction that he would succeed in his design. — Thucydides

The meaning of words had no longer the same relation to things ... Reckless daring was held to be loyal courage; prudent delay was the excuse of a coward; moderation was the disguise of unmanly weakness; to know everything was to do nothing. Frantic energy was the true quality of man. — Thucydides

Few things are brought to a successful issue by impetuous desire, but most by calm and prudent forethought. — Thucydides

One's sense of honor is the only thing that does not grow old, and the last pleasure, when one is worn out with age, is not, as the poet said, making money, but having the respect of one's fellow men. — Thucydides

War is a violent teacher, — Thucydides

As for him who envies or even fears us (and envied and feared great powers must always be), and who on this account wishes Syracuse to be humbled to teach us a lesson, but would still have her survive in the interest of his own security, the wish that he indulges is not humanly possible. A man can control his own desires but he cannot likewise control circumstances; and in the event of his calculations proving mistaken, he may live to bewail his own misfortune, and wish to be again envying my prosperity. An idle wish, if he now sacrifice us and refuse to take his share of perils which are the same in reality, though not in name, for him as for us; what is nominally the preservation of our power being really his own salvation. — Thucydides

It is frequently a misfortune to have very brilliant men in charge of affairs. They expect too much of ordinary men. — Thucydides

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. — Thucydides

Good deeds can be shortly stated but where wrong is done a wealth of language is needed to veil its deformity. — Thucydides

The way that most men deal with traditions, even traditions of their own country, is to receive them all alike as they are delivered, without applying any critical test whatever. — Thucydides

In general, the men of lower intelligence won out. Afraid of their own shortcomings and of the intelligence of their opponents, so that they would not lose out in reasoned argument or be taken by surprise by their quick-witted opponents, they boldly moved into action. Their enemies,on the contrary, contemptuous and confident in their ability to anticipate, thought there was no need to take by action what they could win by their brains. — Thucydides

When one is deprived of ones liberty, one is right in blaming not so much the man who puts the shackles on as the one who had the power to prevent him, but did not use it. — Thucydides

Those who have experienced good and bad luck many times have every reason to be skeptical of successes — Thucydides

You 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

Those who really deserve praise are the people who, while human enough to enjoy power, nevertheless pay more attention to justice than they are compelled to do by their situation. — Thucydides

Men's indignation, it seems, is more exited by legal wrong than by violent wrong; the first looks like being cheated by an equal, the second like being compelled by a superior. — Thucydides

For the love of gain would reconcile the weaker to the dominion of the stronger, and the possession of capital enabled the more powerful to reduce the smaller towns to subjection. — Thucydides

Some legislators only wish to vengeance against a particular enemy. Others only look out for themselves. They devote very little time on the consideration of any public issue. They think that no harm will come from their neglect. They act as if it is always the business of somebody else to look after this or that. When this selfish notion is entertained by all, the commonwealth slowly begins to decay. — Thucydides

We Greeks are lovers of the beautiful, yet simple in our tastes, and we cultivate the mind without loss of manliness. — Thucydides

The peoples of the Mediterranean began to emerge from barbarism when they learned to cultivate the olive and the vine. — Thucydides

Right, 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. — Thucydides

The question is not so much whether they are guilty as whether we are making the right decision for ourselves. — Thucydides

You know well as I do that when we are talking on the human plane, questions of justice only arise when there is equal power to compel: in terms of practicality the dominant exact what they can and the weak concede what they must. (Said by Athenian envoy to the Melians) — Thucydides

Three of the greatest failings, want of sense, of courage, or of vigilance. — Thucydides

A city is better off with bad laws, so long as they remain fixed, than with good laws that are constantly being altered, that lack of learning combined with sound common sense is more helpful than the kind of cleverness that gets out of hand, and that as a general rule states are better governed by the man in the street than by intellectuals. — Thucydides

The strong do what they have to do and the weak accept what they have to accept. — Thucydides

The people made their recollections fit in with their sufferings — Thucydides

What we should lament is not the loss of houses or of land, but the loss of men's lives. Men come first; the rest is the fruit of their labour. — Thucydides

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

Difficulty of subsistence made the invaders reduce the numbers of the army to a point at which it might live on the country during the prosecution of the war. — Thucydides

We know that there can never be any solid friendship between individuals, or union between communities that is worth the name, unless the parties be persuaded of each others honesty — Thucydides

Concessions to adversaries only end in self reproach, and the more strictly they are avoided the greater will be the chance of security. — Thucydides

They whose minds are least sensitive to calamity, and whose hands are most quick to meet it, are the greatest men and the greatest communities. — Thucydides

On the whole, however, the conclusions I have drawn from the proofs quoted may, I believe, safely be relied on. Assuredly they will not be disturbed either by the lays of a poet displaying the exaggeration of his craft, or by the compositions of the chroniclers that are attractive at truth's expense; the subjects they treat of being out of the reach of evidence, and time having robbed most of them of historical value by enthroning them in the region of legend. — Thucydides

In a democracy, someone who fails to get elected to office can always console himself with the thought that there was something not quite fair about it. — Thucydides

It is from the greatest dangers that the greatest glory is to be won. — Thucydides

Of all manifestations of power, restraint impresses men the most. — Thucydides

The whole earth is the sepulchre of famous men. — Thucydides

Remember that this greatness was won by men with courage, with knowledge of their duty, and with a sense of honor in action. — Thucydides

Be convinced that to be happy means to be free and that to be free means to be brave. Therefore do not take lightly the perils of war. — Thucydides

As a rule those who were least remarkable for intelligence showed the greater powers of survival. Such people recognized their own deficiencies and the superior intelligence of their opponnents; fearing that they might lose a debate or find themselves out-manoeuvred in intrigue by their quick-witted enemies, they boldly launched straight into action; while their opponents, overconfident in the belief that they would see what was happening in advance, and not thinking it necessary to seize by force what they could secure by policy, were the more easily destroyed because they were off their guard. 84 Certainly it was in Corcyra that — Thucydides

Wars spring from unseen and generally insignificant causes, the first outbreak being often but an explosion of anger. — Thucydides

Self-control is the chief element in self-respect, and self-respect is the chief element in courage. — Thucydides

When will there be justice in Athens? There will be justice in Athens when those who are not injured are as outraged as those who are. — Thucydides

We secure our friends not by accepting favors but by doing them. — Thucydides

The wide difference between the two characters, the slowness and want of energy of the Spartans as contrasted with the dash and enterprise of their opponents, proved of the greatest service, especially to a maritime empire like Athens. Indeed this was shown by the Syracusans, who were most like the Athenians in character, and also most successful in combating them. — Thucydides

We should remember that one man is much the same as another, and that he is best who is trained in the severest school. — Thucydides

So little trouble do men take in the search after truth; so readily do they accept whatever comes first to hand. — Thucydides

By day certainly the combatants have a clearer notion, though even then by no means of all that takes place, no one knowing much of anything that does not does not go on in his own immediate neighborhood; but in a night engagement ( and this was the only one that occurred between great armies during the war) how could anyone know anything for certain? — Thucydides

The secret of freedom, courage ... — Thucydides

However well off a man may be in his private life, he will still be involved in the general ruin if his country is destroyed; whereas, so long as the state itself is secure, individuals have a much greater chance of recovering from their private misfortunes. — Thucydides

I could have wished that the reputations of many brave men were not to be imperilled in the mouth of a single individual, to stand or fall according as he spoke well or ill. For it is hard to speak properly upon a subject where it is even difficult to convince your hearers that you are speaking the truth. — Thucydides

especially as they did not trust one another. — Thucydides

...when these matters are discussed by practical people, the standard of justice depends on the equality of power to compel... — Thucydides

Think, too, of the great part that is played by the unpredictable in war: think of it now, before you are actually comitted to war. The longer a war lasts, the more things tend to depend on accidents. Neither you nor we can see into them: we have to abide their outcome in the dark. And when people are entering upon a war they do things the wrong way round. Action comes first, and it is only when they have already suffered that they begin to think. — Thucydides

Athens' biggest worry was the sheer recklessness of its own democratic government. A simple majority of the citizenry, urged on and incensed by clever demagogues, might capriciously send out military forces in unnecessary and exhausting adventures. — Thucydides

And yet, Lacedaemonians, you still delay, and fail to see that peace stays longest with those, who are not more careful to use their power justly than to show their determination not to submit to injustice. On the contrary, your ideal of fair dealing is based on the principle that, if you do not injure others, you need not risk your own fortunes in preventing others from injuring you. — Thucydides

It is a general rule of human nature that people despise those who treat them well, and look up to those who make no concessions. — Thucydides

Amassing of wealth is an opportunity for good deeds, not hubris — Thucydides

It 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 — Thucydides

A private man, however successful in his own dealing, if his country perish is involved in her destruction; but if he be an unprosperous citizen of a prosperous city, he is much more likely to recover. Seeing, then, that States can bear the misfortunes of individuals, but individuals cannot bear the misfortunes of States, let us all stand by our country. — Thucydides

When a man finds a conclusion agreeable, he accepts it without argument, but when he finds it disagreeable, he will bring against it all the forces of logic and reason. — Thucydides

Abstinence from all injustice to other first-rate powers is a greater tower of strength than anything that can be gained by the sacrifice of permanent tranquillity for an apparent temporary advantage. — Thucydides

We all look with distaste on people who arrogantly pretend to a reputation to which they are not entitled; but equally to be condemned are those who, through lack of moral fibre, fail to live up to the reputation which is theirs already. — Thucydides

The Thracian people, like the bloodiest of the barbarians, being ever most murderous when it has nothing to fear. — Thucydides

For these reasons they should not hesitate to exchange peace for war. If wise men remain quiet, while they are not injured, brave men abandon peace for war when they are injured, returning to an understanding on a favourable opportunity: in fact, they are neither intoxicated by their success in war, nor disposed to take an injury for the sake of the delightful tranquility of peace. Indeed, to falter for the sake of such delights is, if you remain inactive, the quickest way of losing the sweets of repose to which you cling; while to conceive extravagant pretensions from success in war is to forget how hollow is the confidence by which you are elated. — Thucydides