Xenophon Best Quotes & Sayings

I will choosing to die rather than to remain alive without freedom and beg, as an alternative to death, a vastly inferior life. — Xenophon

The first duty is to sacrifice to the gods and pray them to grant you the thought,words, and deeds likely to render your command most pleasing to the gods and bring yourself, your friends, and your city the fullest measure of affection and glory and advantage — Xenophon

In my experience, men who respond to good fortune with modesty and kindness are harder to find than those who face adversity with courage. For in the very nature of things, success tends to create pride and blindness in the hearts of men, while suffering teaches them to be patient and strong. — Xenophon

There is small risk a general will be regarded with contempt by those he leads, if, whatever he may have to preach, he shows himself best able to perform. — Xenophon

In Australia there are not limits on what you can believe but there are limits on how you can behave. It's called the law, and no one is above it. — Nick Xenophon

Men unite against none so readily as against those whom they
see attempting to rule over them. — Xenophon

People often say what is right and do what is wrong; but nobody can be in the wrong if he is doing what is right. — Xenophon

and in general, every ordinance made without the consent of those who are to obey it, is a violence rather than a law." "And is — Xenophon

Your leader is only one man," I heard my voice say. "His strength is no more supernatural than your own, nor is his virtue, and by himself he could never preserve the good things that belong by right to everyone. To govern well, he must have your help - the help of his true, trustworthy friends. You must forever be worthy of his trust, and you must raise up true friends of your own, to help you carry your own burdens. And it is love that must bind all of us together. — Xenophon

In other words if a man is armed, then one pretty much has to take his opinions into account. One can see how this worked at its starkest in Xenophon's Anabasis, which tells the story of an army of Greek mercenaries who suddenly find themselves leaderless and lost in the middle of Persia. They elect new officers, and then hold a collective vote to decide what to do next. In a case like this, even if the vote was 60/40, everyone could see the balance of forces and what would happen if things actually came to blows. Every vote was, in a real sense, a conquest. — David Graeber

Excess of grief for the dead is madness; for it is an injury to the living, and the dead know it not. — Xenophon

Moderation in all things healthful; total abstinence from all things harmful. — Xenophon

And moreover, his curiosity and thirst for knowledge were such that he must needs inquire from every one he met the explanation of this, that, and the other; and his own wits were so lively that he was ever ready with an answer himself for any question put to him, so that talkativeness had become, as it were, his second nature. But, — Xenophon

All bickering would then cease, and no man would be jealous of his comrade's arms or his passion for glory. As the critical hour approached, everyone would cast away all thoughts of rivalry, and they would see their comrades for what they really were - their closest allies in the struggle for the common good. One — Xenophon

I am a stranger in all countries. — Xenophon

If you consider what are called the virtues in mankind, you will find their growth is assisted by education and cultivation. — Xenophon

He that makes himself famous by his eloquence, justice or arms illustrates his extraction, let it be never so mean; and gives inestimable reputation to his parents. We should never have heard of Sophroniscus, but for his son, Socrates; nor of Ariosto and Gryllus, if it had not been for Xenophon and Plato. — Seneca The Younger

He had put on the best-looking uniform that he could, thinking that...victory deserved the best-looking armour. — Xenophon

Let's banish these misleaders from among us, and when we do, we shouldn't fill their places from our Persian peerage alone. As our journey continues, we're going to be joined by many races of men. Just as we choose our horses from the best stocks, not limiting ourselves to our national breed, we should choose the best men to join us in the work of command, regardless of their country or color." A — Xenophon

If you run for election with a particular agenda about saving jobs, about strengthening manufacturing and farming jobs, about tackling predatory gambling and making governments accountable, if there's an opportunity to achieve that agenda with either side of politics, particularly if you come from the political centre, then it's an opportunity you should take up. — Nick Xenophon

he who marries a beautiful woman in hopes of being happy with her knows not but that even she herself may be the cause of all his uneasinesses; — Xenophon

You know, I need hardly remind you, it is not numbers or strength that gives victory in war; but, heaven helping them, to one or other of two combatants it is given to dash with stouter hearts to meet the foe, and such onset, in nine cases out of ten, those others refuse to meet. — Xenophon

If you wish to be thought a good estate manager, or a good horseman, or a good physician, or a good flute player without really being one, just imagine all the tricks you have to invent just to keep up appearances. You might succeed at first, but in the end you're going to be exposed as an impostor. — Xenophon

even if we only gain a psychological advantage, that can mean the difference between victory and defeat. I'm reminded of the words of my father the king, who says that battles are decided more by the morale of the troops than by their bodily strength." Syazarees — Xenophon

To quote a dictum of Simon, what a horse does under compulsion he does blindly, and his performance is no more beautiful than would be that of a ballet-dancer taught by whip and goad. — Xenophon

Whatever you determine to be right, with diligence endeavour to perform. — Xenophon

There is a deep - and usually frustrated - desire in the heart of everyone to act with benevolence rather than selfishness, and one fine instance of generosity can inspire dozens more. — Xenophon

You are well aware that it is not numbers or strength that bring the victories in war. No, it is when one side goes against the enemy with the gods' gift of a stronger morale that their adversaries, as a rule, cannot withstand them. I have noticed this point too, my friends, that in soldiering the people whose one aim is to keep alive usually find a wretched and dishonorable death, while the people who, realizing that death is the common lot of all men, make it their endeavour to die with honour, somehow seem more often to reach old age and to have a happier life when they are alive. These are facts which you too should realize (our situation demands it) and should show that you yourselves are brave men and should call on the rest to do likewise. — Xenophon

Battles are decided more by the morale of the troops than by their bodily strength. — Xenophon

Success Should Never Breed Complacency — Xenophon

Remember too," I added, "that getting rid of scoundrels ends the danger of contamination for the rest of the army. Men are drawn closer to virtue when they see the dishonor that falls on misleaders. — Xenophon

Wherever magistrates were appointed from among those who complied with the injunctions of the laws, Socrates considered the government to be an aristocracy. — Xenophon

I'm not against free trade but I'm against free trade deals that are negotiated badly, that actually compromise jobs, manufacturing jobs, compromise the national interest. — Nick Xenophon

Some one may say, are you not ashamed to be so taken in like a fool? Yes, I should be ashamed, if it had been an open enemy who had so deceived me. But, to my mind, when friend cheats friend, a deeper stain attaches to the perpetrator than to the victim of deceit. — Xenophon

I could recite you the whole of Thucydides, Xenophon, Plutarch, Titus Livius, Tacitus, Strada, Jornandes, Dante, Montaigne, Shakespeare, Spinoza, Machiavelli, and Bossuet. I name only the most important." "You — Alexandre Dumas

I do not see how one who is an enemy of the gods can run fast enough away, nor where he can flee to escape, nor what darkness could cover him, nor how he could find a position strong enough for refuge. For all things in all places are subject to the gods, and the power of the gods extends equally over everything. — Xenophon