Thucydide citations

Thucydide est un homme politique, stratège et historien athénien, né vers 465 av. J.-C dans le dème d'Halimunte , mort, peut-être assassiné, entre 400 et 395 av. J.-C. Il est l’auteur de La Guerre du Péloponnèse, récit d'un conflit athéno-spartiate qui se déroula entre 431 av. J.-C. et 404 av. J.-C. Wikipedia  

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Thucydide: 81   citations 0   J'aime

Thucydide citations célèbres

Thucydide: Citations en anglais

“they possess most gold and silver, by which war, like everything else, flourishes.”

Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War

Book VI, 6.34; "they have abundance of gold and silver, and these make war, like other things, go smoothly" ( trans. http://www.classicpersuasion.org/pw/thucydides/jthucbk6rv2.htm Benjamin Jowett)
History of the Peloponnesian War, Book VI

“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.”

Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War

Variant translations:<p>But the palm of courage will surely be adjudged most justly to those, who best know the difference between hardship and pleasure and yet are never tempted to shrink from danger. http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Thuc.+2.40.3<p>And they are most rightly reputed valiant, who though they perfectly apprehend both what is dangerous and what is easy, are never the more thereby diverted from adventuring. (translation by Thomas Hobbes http://oll.libertyfund.org/?option=com_staticxt&staticfile=show.php%3Ftitle=771&chapter=90127&layout=html&Itemid=27)<p>
Book II, 2.40-[3]
History of the Peloponnesian War, Book II

“So little pains do the vulgar take in the investigation of truth, accepting readily the first story that comes to hand.”

Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War

Variant translation: "...the search for truth strains the patience of most people, who would rather believe the first things that come to hand." Translation by Paul Woodruff.
Book I, 1.20-[3]
History of the Peloponnesian War, Book I

“Contempt for an assailant is best shown by bravery in action.”

Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War

Book VI, 6.34-[9]; "the true contempt of an invader is shown by deeds of valour in the field" ( trans. http://www.classicpersuasion.org/pw/thucydides/jthucbk6rv2.htm Benjamin Jowett)
History of the Peloponnesian War, Book VI

“In generosity we are equally singular, acquiring our friends by conferring, not by receiving, favours.”

Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War

Book II, 2.40-[3]
History of the Peloponnesian War, Book II
Contexte: Again, in our enterprises we present the singular spectacle of daring and deliberation, each carried to its highest point, and both united in the same persons; although usually decision is the fruit of ignorance, hesitation of reflection. But the palm of courage will surely be adjudged most justly to those, who best know the difference between hardship and pleasure and yet are never tempted to shrink from danger. In generosity we are equally singular, acquiring our friends by conferring, not by receiving, favours.

“I could have wished that the reputations of many brave men were not to be imperilled in the mouth of a single individual, to stand or fall according as he spoke well or ill. For it is hard to speak properly upon a subject where it is even difficult to convince your hearers that you are speaking the truth.”

Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War

Book II, 2.35-[1]-[3]
History of the Peloponnesian War, Book II
Contexte: I could have wished that the reputations of many brave men were not to be imperilled in the mouth of a single individual, to stand or fall according as he spoke well or ill. For it is hard to speak properly upon a subject where it is even difficult to convince your hearers that you are speaking the truth. On the one hand, the friend who is familiar with every fact of the story may think that some point has not been set forth with that fullness which he wishes and knows it to deserve; on the other, he who is a stranger to the matter may be led by envy to suspect exaggeration if he hears anything above his own nature. For men can endure to hear others praised only so long as they can severally persuade themselves of their own ability to equal the actions recounted: when this point is passed, envy comes in and with it incredulity.

“Again, in our enterprises we present the singular spectacle of daring and deliberation, each carried to its highest point, and both united in the same persons; although usually decision is the fruit of ignorance, hesitation of reflection.”

Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War

Book II, 2.40-[3]
History of the Peloponnesian War, Book II
Contexte: Again, in our enterprises we present the singular spectacle of daring and deliberation, each carried to its highest point, and both united in the same persons; although usually decision is the fruit of ignorance, hesitation of reflection. But the palm of courage will surely be adjudged most justly to those, who best know the difference between hardship and pleasure and yet are never tempted to shrink from danger. In generosity we are equally singular, acquiring our friends by conferring, not by receiving, favours.

“Ignorance produces rashness, reflection timidity”

Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War

Book II, 40.3
History of the Peloponnesian War, Book II

“I have often before now been convinced that a democracy is incapable of empire…”

Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War

Book III, 3.37-[1] (Speech of Cleon..).
History of the Peloponnesian War, Book III

“Of the gods we believe, and of men we know, that by a necessary law of their nature they rule wherever they can.”

Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War

Book V, 5.105-[2]
History of the Peloponnesian War, Book V

“Right or community of blood was not the bond of union between them, so much as interest or compulsion as the case may be.”

Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War

Book VII, 7.57-[1]
History of the Peloponnesian War, Book VII

“here we bless your simplicity but do not envy your folly.”

Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War

Book V, 5.105-[3]
History of the Peloponnesian War, Book V

“It is a common mistake in going to war to begin at the wrong end, to act first, and wait for disaster to discuss the matter.”

Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War

Book I, 1.78-[3]
History of the Peloponnesian War, Book I

“their swaying bodies reflected the agitation of their minds, and they suffered the worst agony of all, ever just within the reach of safety or just on the point of destruction.”

Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War

Book VII, 7.71-[3] (See also: Fog of war..).
History of the Peloponnesian War, Book VII

“we must make up our minds to look for our protection not to legal terrors but to careful administration.”

Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War

Book III, 3.46-[4]
History of the Peloponnesian War, Book III

“concessions to adversaries only end in self reproach, and the more strictly they are avoided the greater will be the chance of security.”

Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War

Book I, 1.34-[3]
History of the Peloponnesian War, Book I

“the freaks of chance are not determinable by calculation.”

Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War

Book I, 1.84-[3]
History of the Peloponnesian War, Book I

“But as the power of Hellas grew, and the acquisition of wealth became more an objective, the revenues of the states increasing, tyrannies were established almost everywhere…”

Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War

Book I, 1.13-[1] (See also: Karl Marx, Grundrisse, Introduction p. 7)
History of the Peloponnesian War, Book I

“still hope leads men to venture; and no one ever yet put himself in peril without the inward conviction that he would succeed in his design.”

Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War

Book III, 3.45-[1]
History of the Peloponnesian War, Book III

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