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
want three failing
Three of the greatest failings, want of sense, of courage, or of vigilance.
successful issues desire
Few things are brought to a successful issue by impetuous desire, but most by calm and prudent forethought.
being-free courageous depends
Happiness depends on being free, and freedom depends on being courageous.
secret
The secret of happiness is freedom.
men liberty use
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.
army night crowds
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
believe men greek
We Greeks believe that a man who takes no part in public affairs is not merely lazy, but good for nothing
greatness men honor
Remember that this greatness was won by men with courage, with knowledge of their duty, and with a sense of honor in action.
selfish thinking issues
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.
men thinking democracy
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.
strong war hero
The Peloponnesian War turns out to be no dry chronicle of abstract cause and effect. No, it is above all an intense, riveting, and timeless story of strong and weak men, of heroes and scoundrels and innocents too, all caught in the fateful circumstances of rebellion, plague, and war that always strip away the veneer of culture and show us for what we really are.
office democracy failing
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.
revenge men law
If it had not been for the pernicious power of envy, men would not so have exalted vengeance above innocence and profit above justice... in these acts of revenge on others, men take it upon themselves to begin the process of repealing those general laws of humanity which are there to give a hope of salvation to all who are in distress.
war blame shows
I am not blaming those who are resolved to rule, only those who show an even greater readiness to submit.