Thucydide citations (81 citations, Page 2)

Thucydide: 81 citations 0 J'aime

Thucydide citations célèbres

“J'ajoute qu'en ce qui concerne les discours prononcés par les uns et les autres, soit juste avant, soit pendant la guerre, il était bien difficile d'en reproduire la teneur même avec exactitude, autant pour moi, quand je les avais personnellement entendus, que pour quiconque me les rapportait de telle ou telle provenance : j'ai exprimé ce qu'à mon avis ils auraient pu dire qui répondît le mieux à la situation, en me tenant, pour la pensée générale, le plus près possible des paroles réellement prononcées : tel est le contenu des discours.”

Thucydide

grc

“À l'audition, l'absence de merveilleux dans les faits rapportés paraîtra sans doute en diminuer le charme; mais, si l'on veut voir clair dans les événements passés et dans ceux qui, à l'avenir, en vertu du caractère humain qui est le leur, présenteront des similitudes ou des analogies, qu'alors, on les juge utiles, et cela suffira : ils constituent un trésor pour toujours, plutôt qu'une production d'apparat pour un auditoire du moment.”

Thucydide

grc

“Thucydide d'Athènes a raconté comment se déroula la guerre entre les Péloponnésiens et les Athéniens. Il s'était mis au travail dès les premiers symptômes de cette guerre; et il avait prévu qu'elle prendrait de grandes proportions et une portée dépassant celle des précédentes. Il pouvait le conjecturer parce que les deux groupes étaient, en l'abordant, dans le plein épanouissement de toutes leurs forces; et, d'autre part, il voyait le reste du monde grec se joindre à chaque camp, aussitôt ou en projet. Ce fut bien la plus grande crise qui émut la Grèce et une fraction du monde barbare : elle gagna, pour ainsi dire, la majeure partie de l'humanité.”

Thucydide

grc
Premières lignes du livre.

“Trois sortes de fautes sont particulièrement pernicieuses pour les empires : se laisser apitoyer, céder au charme de l’éloquence et vouloir se montrer compréhensif.”

Thucydide

“Vous êtes en quête d’un monde qui n’a, pourrait-on dire, aucun rapport avec celui dans lequel nous vivons et il vous manque la dose suffisante de bon sens pour apprécier sainement la réalité qui nous entoure. En un mot, vous êtes les jouets du plaisir que vous cause la parole et vous ressemblez plus à un public venu entendre des sophistes qu’à une assemblée délibérant sur les affaires de la cité.”

Thucydide

Discours de Cléon à l’Assemblée athénienne.

Thucydide: Citations en anglais

“It must be thoroughly understood that war is a necessity, and that the more readily we accept it, the less will be the ardor of our opponents, and that out of the greatest dangers communities and individuals acquire the greatest glory.”

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Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War

Book I, 1.144-[3]
Variant translation: We must realize, too, that, both for cities and for individuals, it is from the greatest dangers that the greatest glory is to be won.
As translated by Rex Warner (1954).
History of the Peloponnesian War, Book I

“Abstinence from all injustice to other first-rate powers is a greater tower of strength than anything that can be gained by the sacrifice of permanent tranquillity for an apparent temporary advantage.”

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Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War

Book I, 1.42-[3]
History of the Peloponnesian War, Book I

“The wide difference between the two characters, the slowness and want of energy of the Spartans as contrasted with the dash and enterprise of their opponents, proved of the greatest service, especially to a maritime empire like Athens. Indeed this was shown by the Syracusans, who were most like the Athenians in character, and also most successful in combating them.”

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Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War

Book VIII, 8.96-[5]
History of the Peloponnesian War, Book VIII

“Hatred also is short lived; but that which makes the splendor of the present and the glory of the future remains forever unforgotten”

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Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War

Book II, 2.64-[5]
History of the Peloponnesian War, Book II

“And it is certain that those who do not yield to their equals, who keep terms with their superiors, and are moderate towards their inferiors, on the whole succeed best.”

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Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War

Book V, 5.111-[4]
History of the Peloponnesian War, Book V

“Men do not rest content with parrying the attacks of a superior, but often strike the first blow to prevent the attack being made.”

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Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War

Book VI, 6.18-[2]
History of the Peloponnesian War, Book VI

“war is a matter not so much of arms as of money”

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Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War

Book I, 1.83-[2]
History of the Peloponnesian War, Book I

“We must march against the enemy, and teach him that he must go and get what he wants by attacking someone who will not resist him, but that men whose glory it is to be always ready to give battle for the liberty of their own country, and never unjustly to enslave that of others, will not let him go without a struggle.”

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Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War

Book IV, 4.92-[7]
History of the Peloponnesian War, Book IV

“When men are once checked in what they consider their special excellence, their whole opinion of themselves suffers more than if they had not at first believed in their superiority, the unexpected shock to their pride causing them to give way more than their real strength warrants; and that is probably now the case with the Athenians.”

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Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War

Book VII, 7.66-[3]
History of the Peloponnesian War, Book VII

“Words had to change their ordinary meaning and to take that which was now given them. Reckless audacity came to be considered the courage of a loyal ally; prudent hesitation, specious cowardice; moderation was held to be a cloak for unmanliness; ability to see all sides of a question, inaptness to act on any. Frantic violence became the attribute of manliness; cautious plotting, a justifiable means of self-defence. The advocate of extreme measures was always trustworthy; his opponent a man to be suspected. To succeed in a plot was to have a shrewd head, to divine a plot a still shrewder; but to try to provide against having to do either was to break up your party and to be afraid of your adversaries.”

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Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War

Book III, 3.82-[4]
History of the Peloponnesian War, Book III

“By day certainly the combatants have a clearer notion, though even then by no means of all that takes place, no one knowing much of anything that does not does not go on in his own immediate neighborhood; but in a night engagement ( and this was the only one that occurred between great armies during the war) how could anyone know anything for certain?”

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Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War

Book VII, 7.44-[1]
History of the Peloponnesian War, Book VII

“Now the only sure basis of an alliance is for each party to be equally afraid of the other;”

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Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War

Book III, 3.11-[2]
History of the Peloponnesian War, Book III

“They stood where they stood by the power of the sword.”

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Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War

Book IV, 4.98-[7]
History of the Peloponnesian War, Book IV

“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.”

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Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War

Book I, 1.8-[3]
History of the Peloponnesian War, Book I

“And the rarest dangers are those in which failure brings little loss and success the greatest advantage.”

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Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War

Book VII, 7.68-[3]
History of the Peloponnesian War, Book VII

“But what most oppressed them was that they had two wars at once, and has thus reached a pitch of frenzy which no one would have believed possible if he had heard of it before it had come to pass.”

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Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War

Book VII, 7.28-[3]
History of the Peloponnesian War, Book VII

“Hope, danger's comforter”

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Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War

Book V, 5.103-[1]
History of the Peloponnesian War, Book V

“The growth of the power of Athens, and the alarm which this inspired in Sparta, made war inevitable.”

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Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War

Book I, 1.23-[6].
History of the Peloponnesian War, Book I

“To come to this war: despite the known disposition of the actors in a struggle to overrate its importance, and when it is over to return to their admiration of earlier events, yet an examination of the facts will show that it was much greater than the wars which preceded it.”

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Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War

Variant translation: "People always think the greatest war is the one they are fighting at the moment, and when that is over they are more impressed with wars of antiquity; but, even so, this war will prove, to all who look at the facts, that it was greater than the others." Translation by Paul Woodruff.
Book I, 21-[2]
History of the Peloponnesian War, Book I

“Fire signals of an attack were also raised toward Thebes, but the Plataeans in the city at once displayed a number of others, prepared beforehand for this very purpose, in order to render the enemy's signals unintelligible, and to prevent his friends from getting a true idea of what was happening and coming to his aid before their comrades who had gone out should have made good their escape and be in safety.”

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Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War

Book III, 3.22-[7]-[8] (See also: Spoofing attack..).
History of the Peloponnesian War, Book III

“self-control contains honour as a chief constituent, and honour bravery.”

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Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War

Book I, 1.84; "self-control is the chief element in self-respect, and respect of self, in turn, is the chief element in courage" ( trans. Charles Forster Smith https://archive.org/stream/thucydideswithen01thucuoft/thucydideswithen01thucuoft#page/142/mode/2up)
History of the Peloponnesian War, Book I

“he who voluntarily confronts tremendous odds must have very great internal resources to draw upon.”

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Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War

Book II, 2.89-[6].
History of the Peloponnesian War, Book II

“They have discovered that the length of time we have now been in commission has rotted our ships and wasted our crews, and that with the completeness of our crews and the soundness of the pristine efficiency of our navy has departed. For it is impossible for us to haul our ships ashore and dry them out because the enemy's vessels being as many or more than our own, we are constantly anticipating an attack.”

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Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War

Book VII, 7.12-[3]-[4]
History of the Peloponnesian War, Book VII

“Disdain is the privilege of those who, like us, have been assured by reflection of their superiority to their adversary. And where the chances are the same, knowledge fortifies courage by the contempt which is its consequence, its trust being placed, not in hope, which is the prop of the desperate, but in a judgment grounded upon existing resources, whose anticipations are more to be depended upon.”

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Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War

Book II, 2.62-[4]-[5]
History of the Peloponnesian War, Book II

“In practice we always base our preparations against an enemy on the assumption that his plans are good; indeed, it is right to rest our hopes not on a belief in his blunders, but on the soundness of our provisions. Nor ought we to believe that there is much difference between man and man, but to think that the superiority lies with him who is reared in the severest school.”

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Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War

Variant translation: "Instead, we think the plans of our neighbors are as good as our own, and we can't work out whose chances at war are better in a speech. So we always make our preparations in action, on the assumption that our enemies know what they are doing. We should not build our hopes on the belief that they will make mistakes, but on our own careful foresight. And we should not think there is much difference between one man and another, except that the winner will be the one whose education was the most severe." Translation by Paul Woodruff.
Variant translation: "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." Note: Some versions omit the "who have been".
Book I, 1.84-[4]
History of the Peloponnesian War, Book I

“For the true author of the subjugation of a people is not so much the immediate agent, as the power which permits it having the means to prevent it.”

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Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War

Book I, 69.
History of the Peloponnesian War, Book I

“Let him remember that many before now have tried to chastise a wrongdoer, and failing to punish their enemy have not even saved themselves; while many who have trusted in force to gain an advantage, instead of gaining anything more, have been doomed to lose what they had. Vengeance is not necessarily successful because wrong has been done, or strength sure because it is confident; but the incalculable element in the future exercises the widest influence, and is the most treacherous, and yet in fact the most useful of all things, as it frightens us all equally, and thus makes us consider before attacking each other.”

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Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War

Book IV, 4.62-[3]-[4]
History of the Peloponnesian War, Book IV

“The secret of happiness is freedom and the secret of freedom is courage.”

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Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War

Book II, 2.43
History of the Peloponnesian War, Book II

“In fine, I have written my work, not as an essay which is to win the applause of the moment, but as a possession for all time.”

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Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War

Book I, 1.22-[4]
History of the Peloponnesian War, Book I

“That war is an evil is a proposition so familiar to every one that it would be tedious to develop it. No one is forced to engage in it by ignorance, or kept out of it by fear, if he fancies there is anything to be gained by it.”

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Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War

Book IV, 4.59-[2]; "Nobody is driven into war by ignorance, and no one who thinks that he will gain anything from it is deterred by fear." ( trans. http://www.classicpersuasion.org/pw/thucydides/thucydides-passages.php?pleaseget=4.59-64 Benjamin Jowett)
History of the Peloponnesian War, Book IV