Listen and shut up.
Old age alone is the greatest misfortune.
Mind is undoubtedly the first condition of happiness.
Nobility is to take revenge on someone who is your equal and who finds himself in the same situation as you.
Most people would rather pass themselves off as clever tricksters than honest fools.
The future is full of uncertainty, but this deceptive appearance of the future presents itself as a boundless good.
In mutual relations between people, law only makes sense when, in the case of equality of forces, both parties have recognized what is equally necessary for them. In the opposite case, the strongest demands as much as he can, and the weak is obliged to submit.
Things exist for people, not people for things.
All men are inclined to commit wrongdoing both in private and public life, and no law can prevent them. States have checked all methods of punishment, always tightening them up. (...) Over time, all punishments were replaced by the death penalty. (...) But even this measure did not manage to reduce the number of crimes. Thus, either still more terrible punishments should be invented, or it should be admitted that the evil-doer fears no punishment.
War is the teacher of violence.
The city means the people, not the walls.
The grave of the brave is the whole world.
He goes the farthest who does not yield to his equal, maintains his dignity in the face of the stronger than him, and knows how to restrain himself in the face of the defenseless.
To the tyrant and all-powerful of a city, who also rules over other cities, everything that seems advantageous is also reasonable.
To reach tyranny is unjust, to renounce it is dangerous.
If I have caused you as an enemy so many misfortunes I can be a useful friend. (Alcibiades to the Spartans)
History is a philosophy in examples.
When the king of Sparta, Archidamus, asked Thucydides who was stronger in fistfights, him or Pericles, he replied, “I honestly don't know; even if I put him down, he will prove that he did not fall, he will convince everyone present and he will win".
Any demand imposed, small or great, against your equals is called subjugation," if established before the judgment of the tribunal.
People (...) are more upset by the injustice, the faces, caused by them, than the harshest aggression: in injustice they see disregard on the part of their equals, and in aggression, the necessity of submission to the stronger.
Men believe in the truth of the praises of others only in so far as they themselves consider themselves able to perform the great deeds ascribed to them. And everything beyond their capabilities arouses envy and distrust.
Men more eagerly resolve to fight among themselves than they actually do on the field of battle, and change their disposition according to the progress of the battle.
Hope is wasteful by nature.
When a war begins, men at once proceed to acts from which they should have refrained for a time, and after suffering a failure they begin to think.
You should not take pride in your opponent's random failures. Self-confidence should be fueled only when you have overturned his plans.
You don't have to do your math by anticipating your opponent's mistakes.
Ignorant mediocrity gives birth to shameless courage, and lucid calculation to hesitation.
No one (...) is as thoughtful when he conceives a plan as when he executes it. In judgments we are firm, and in actions we are gripped by fear.
He who has done a service to another is a reliable friend, because he endeavors to retain the gratitude he deserves by future services. On the contrary, the man overwhelmed by good deeds strives less: he understands that he is doing a good deed not out of friendship, but out of obligation.
War is rarely waged according to a premeditated plan, but very often war itself chooses its course and means according to circumstances.