Thucydides
Thucydides
Thucydideswas an Athenian historian and general. His History of the Peloponnesian War recounts the 5th century BC war between Sparta and Athens to the year 411 BC. Thucydides has been dubbed the father of "scientific history" because of his strict standards of evidence-gathering and analysis of cause and effect without reference to intervention by the gods, as outlined in his introduction to his work...
NationalityGreek
ProfessionHistorian
military lying army
The strength of an Army lies in strict discipline and undeviating obedience to its officers.
religious men giving
For men naturally despise those who court them, but respect those who do not give way to them.
men people greek
It is frequently a misfortune to have very brilliant men in charge of affairs. They expect too much of ordinary men.
clever military adventure
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.
patience men politics
Of all manifestations of power, restraint impresses men most.
enemy reason reproach
He passes through life most securely who has least reason to reproach himself with complaisance toward his enemies.
mistake enemy intention
I dread our own mistakes more than the enemy's intentions.
party ambition passion
The cause of all these evils was the lust for power arising from greed and ambition; and from these passions proceeded the violence of parties once engaged in contention.
opportunity giving innovation
... 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.
mistake pieces gains
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.
strength peace war
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.
courage fate enemy
The sufferings that fate inflicts on us should be borne with patience, what enemies inflict with manly courage.
fate men envy
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.
successful enemy coward
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.