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.
For men naturally despise those who court them, but respect those who do not give way to them.
The strength of an Army lies in strict discipline and undeviating obedience to its officers.
We Greeks are lovers of the beautiful, yet simple in our tastes, and we cultivate the mind without loss of manliness.
An avowal of poverty is no disgrace to any man; to make no effort to escape it is indeed disgraceful.
The whole earth is the sepulchre of famous men.
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.
It is frequently a misfortune to have very brilliant men in charge of affairs. They expect too much of ordinary men.
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.
I have written my work, not as an essay which is to win the applause of the moment, but as a possession for all time.
Amassing of wealth is an opportunity for good deeds, not hubris.
The superior gratification derived from the use and contemplation of costly and supposedly beautiful products is, commonly, in great measure a gratification of our sense of costliness masquerading under the name of beauty.
Thucydides, an Athenian, wrote the history of the war between the Peloponnesians and the Athenians, he began at the moment that it broke out, believing that it would be a great war, and more memorable than any that had preceded it.
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.
What made the war inevitable was the growth of Athenian power and the fear which this caused in Sparta.
Wars spring from unseen and generally insignificant causes, the first outbreak being often but an explosion of anger.
He who graduates the harshest school, succeeds.
If you give way, you will instantly have to meet some greater demand, as having been frightened into obedience in the first instance; while a firm refusal will make them clearly understand that they must treat you more as equals.
Knowledge without understanding is useless.
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.