Great Throughts Treasury

"Time is the wisest counselor."

"Be ruled by time, the wisest counsellor of all."

"Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you!"

"Not to be able to bear poverty is a shameful thing; but not to know how to chase it away by work is a more shameful thing yet."

"The real disgrace of poverty [is] not in owning to the fact but in declining to struggle against it."

"Wait for the wisest of all counselors, Time."

"Our love of what is beautiful does not lead to extravagance; our love of the things of the mind does not make us soft."

"Instead of looking on discussion as a stumbling block in the way of action, we think it an indispensable preliminary to any wise action at all."

"Men can endure to hear otheres praised only so long as they can… persuade themselves of their own ability to equal the actions recounted: when this point is passed, envy comes in and with it incredulity."

"Those who can truly be accounted brave are those who best know the meaning of what is sweet in life and what is terrible, and then go out, undeterred, to meet what is to come."

"What you leave behind is not what is engraved on stone momuments, but what is woven into the lives of others."

"Freedom is the sure possession of those alone who have the courage to defend it."

"Grief is felt not so much for the want of what we have never known, as for the loss of that to which we have been long accustomed."

"We cultivate refinement without extravagance and knowledge without effeminacy; wealth we employ more for use than for show, and place the real disgrace of poverty not in owning to the fact but in declining the struggle against it. Our public men have, besides politics, their private affairs to attend to, and our ordinary citizens, though occupied with the pursuits of industry, are still fair judges of public matters; for, unlike any other nation, regarding him who takes no part in these duties not as unambitious but as useless, we Athenians are able to judge at all events if we cannot originate, and instead of looking on discussion as a stumbling-block in the way of action, we think it an indispensable preliminary to any wise action at all."

"Hatred and unpopularity at the moment have fallen to the lot of all who have aspired to rule others; but where odium must be incurred, true wisdom incurs it for the highest objects. Hatred also is short-lived; but that which makes the splendour of the present and the glory of the future remains for ever unforgotten. Make your decision, therefore, for glory then and honour now, and attain both objects by instant and zealous effort: do not send heralds to Lacedaemon, and do not betray any sign of being oppressed by your present sufferings, since 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."

"The whole Earth is the Sepulchre of famous men; and their story is not graven only on Stone over their native earth, but lives on far away, without visible symbol, woven into the stuff of other men's lives."

"Future ages will wonder at us, as the present age wonders at us now. We do not need the praises of a Homer, or of anyone else whose words may delight us for the moment, but the estimation of facts will fall short of what is really true."

"They gave her their lives, to her and to all of us, and for their own selves they won praises that never grow old, the most splendid of sepulchers — not the sepulchre in which their bodies are laid, but where their glory remains eternal in men's minds, always there on the right occasion to stir others to speech or to action. For famous men have the whole earth as their memorial: it is not only the inscriptions on their graves in their own country that mark diem out; no, in foreign lands also, not in any visible form but in people's hearts, their memory abides and grows. It is for you to try to be like them. Make up your minds that happiness depends on being free, and freedom depends on being courageous."

"Our form of government does not enter into rivalry with the institutions of others. We do not copy our neighbors, but are an example to them. It is true that we are called a democracy, for the administration is in the hands of the many and not of the few. But while the laws secure equal justice to all alike in their private disputes, the claim of excellence is also recognized; and when a citizen is in any way distinguished he is preferred to the public service, not as a matter of privilege, but as the reward of merit. "Neither is poverty a bar, for a man may benefit his country whatever be the obscurity of his conditions. There is no exclusiveness in our public life, and in our private intercourses we are not suspicious of one another, nor angry with our neighbor if he does what he likes; we do not give him sour looks which, though harmless, are not pleasant."

"Tis time to fear when tyrants seem to kiss."

"Surely, to a man of spirit, the degradation of cowardice must be immeasurably more grievous than the unfelt death which strikes him in the midst of his strength and patriotism!"

"Who makes the fairest show means most deceit."

"Having knowledge but lacking the power to express it clearly is no better than never having any ideas at all."

"A woman's greatest glory is to be little talked about by men, whether for good or ill."

"Fishes live in the sea, as men do on land: the great ones eat up the little ones."

"For grief is felt not so much for the want of what we have never known, as for the loss of that to which we have been long accustomed."

"It is more of a disgrace to be robbed of what one has than to fail in some new undertaking."

"But 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."

"I could tell you a long story (and you know it as well as I do) about what is to be gained by beating the enemy back. What I would prefer is that you should fix your eyes every day on the greatness of Athens as she realty is, and should fall in love with her. When you realize her greatness, then reflect that what made her great was men with a spirit of adventure, men who knew their duty, men who were ashamed to fall below a certain standard. If they ever failed in an enterprise, they made up their minds that at any rate the city should not find their courage lacking to her, and they gave to her the best contribution that they could. They gave her their lives, to her and to all of us, and for their own selves they won praises that never grow old, the most splendid of sepulchers ? not the sepulchre in which their bodies are laid, but where their glory remains eternal in men's minds, always there on the right occasion to stir others to speech or to action. For famous men have the whole earth as their memorial: it is not only the inscriptions on their graves in their own country that mark diem out; no, in foreign lands also, not in any visible form but in people's hearts, their memory abides and grows. It is for you to try to be like them. Make up your minds that happiness depends on being free, and freedom depends on being courageous."

"Although only a few may originate a policy, we are all able to judge it."

"All who have taken it upon themselves to rule over others have incurred hatred and unpopularity for a time; but if one has a great aim to pursue, this burden of envy must be accepted, and it is wise to accept it."

"For famous men have the whole earth as their memorial."

"Master, I marvel how the fishes live in the sea. Why, as men do a-land: the great ones eat up the little ones."

"Nor is it any longer possible for you to give up this empire ... Your empire is now like a tyranny: it may have been wrong to take it; it is certainly dangerous to let it go."

"It is right to endure with resignation what the gods send, and to face one's enemies with courage."

"Not to be able to bear poverty is a shameful thing; but not to know how to chase it away by work is a more shameful thing yet."

"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."

"Trees, though they are cut and loped, grow up again quickly, but if men are destroyed, it is not easy to get them again."

"We do not say that a man who takes no interest in politics is a man who minds his own business; we say that he has no business here at all."

"Time is the king of all men, he is their parent and their grave, and gives them what he will and not what they crave."

"Those who are politically apathetic can only survive if they are supported by people who are capable of taking action."

"We do not imitate, but are a model to others."

"Your empire is now like a tyranny: it may have been wrong to take it; it is certainly dangerous to let it go."

"We regard wealth as something to be properly used, rather than as something to boast about. As for poverty, no one need be ashamed to admit it: the real shame is in not taking practical measures to escape from it."