Thucydides
Thucydides ( c. 471 BC - 399 BC) was a Greek historian of the Peloponnesian War. His great achievement is his history, all derived from personal observation and oral communication, the materials of which were collected during the war, and the whole executed in a style to entitle it to rank among the noblest literary monuments of antiquity.He was born in Athens nine years after the battle of Salamis (fought in 480 BC), of a wealthy family. He was in Athens during the plague of 430 BC, and was seized by it, but recovered. He served as naval commander in 424 BC in the Peloponnesian War (431 BC – 404 BC), but from neglect of duty was banished. However, he returned from exile 20 years after, but it is not known how or when he died, but it is certain that he died before his history was finished.
Wisdom & Quotes
- The strength of an army lies in strict discipline and undeviating obedience to its officers.
- History of the Peloponnesian war
- We (Greeks) are lovers of the beautiful, yet simple in our tastes, and we cultivate the mind without loss of manliness.
- The History of the Peloponnesian War
- War is a matter not so much of arms as of expenditure, through which arms may be made of service .
- Historia
- The whole earth is the sepulchre of famous men; they are honoured not only by columns and inscriptions in their own land, but in foreign nations on memorials graven not on stone but in the hearts and minds of men.
- For the love of gain would reconcile the weaker to the dominion of the stronger, and the possession of capital enabled the more powerful to reduce the smaller cities to subjection.
- History of the Peloponnesian War
- So little pains do the vulgar take in the investigation of truth, accepting readily the first story that comes to hand.
- History of the Peloponnesian War
- The freaks of chance are not determinable by calculation.
- History of the Peloponnesian War
- There is no need to suppose that human beings differ very much from one another: but it is true that the ones who come out on top are the ones who have been trained in the hardest school.
- History of the Peloponnesian War
- There is, however, no advantage in reflections on the past further than may be of service to the present. For the future we must provide by maintaining what the present gives us and redoubling our efforts; it is hereditary to us to win virtue as the fruit of labour, and you must not change the habit, even though you should have a slight advantage in wealth and resources; for it is not right that what was won in want should be lost in plenty.
- History of the Peloponnesian War
- I am more afraid of our own blunders than of the enemy's devices.
- History of the Peloponnesian War
- The bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them, glory and danger alike, and yet notwithstanding, go out to meet it.
- History of the Peloponnesian War
- The secret of happiness is freedom and the secret of freedom is courage.
- History of the Peloponnesian War
- Hatred also is short lived; but that which makes the splendor of the present and the glory of the future remains forever unforgotten.
- History of the Peloponnesian War
- I think the two things most opposed to good counsel are haste and passion; haste usually goes hand in hand with folly, passion with coarseness and narrowness of mind.
- History of the Peloponnesian War
- It is a habit of mankind to entrust to careless hope what they long for, and to use sovereign reason to thrust aside what they do not desire.
- History of the Peloponnesian War
Hippocrates