The Nation that makes a great distinction between its scholars and its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting done by fools.

For the whole earth is the tomb of famous men; not only are they commemorated by columns and inscriptions in their own country, but in foreign lands there dwells also an unwritten memorial of them,...

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.

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...

People are inclined to accept all stories of ancient times in an uncritical way -even when those stories concern their own native counties…Most people, in fact, will not take trouble in finding out the truth,...

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...

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.

In practice we always base our preparations against an enemy on the assumption that his plans are good; indeed, it is right to rest our hopes not on a belief in his blunders, but on...

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...

I think the two things most opposed to good counsel are haste and passion; haste usaully goes hand in hand with folly, passion with coarseness and narrowness of mind.

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.

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

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

Indeed it is generally the case that men are readier to call rogues clever than simpletons honest, and are ashamed of being the second as they are proud of being the first.

The nation that will insist on drawing a broad line of demarcation between the fighting man and the thinking man is liable to find its fighting done by fools and its thinking done by cowards.

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.

We Greeks believe that a man who takes no part in public affairs is not merely lazy, but good for nothing

Mankind are tolerant of the praises of others as long as each hearer thinks that he can do as well or nearly as well himself, but, when the speaker rises above him, jealousy is aroused...