“The growth of the power of Athens, and the alarm which this inspired in Lacedaemon [Sparta], made war inevitable.”
Thucydides
History of the Peloponnesian War (Primary source)
The History of the Peloponnesian War is about what happens when a rising power threatens an established one. Spoiler: nothing good.
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“Right, as the world goes, is only in question between equals in power, while the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must.”
— Thucydides Primary source“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.”
— Thucydides Primary source“The absence of romance in my history will, I fear, detract somewhat from its interest; but if it be judged useful by those inquirers who desire an exact knowledge of the past as an aid to the interpretation of the future, which in the course of human things must resemble if it does not reflect it, I shall be content. 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.”
— Thucydides Primary source“I am more afraid of our own blunders than of the enemy’s devices.”
— Thucydides Primary source“It was for beauty that the world was made.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson Primary source“A war postponed may be a war averted.”
— Winston Churchill Primary source“Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors.”
— Benjamin Franklin Primary source“War is mainly a catalogue of blunders.”
— Winston Churchill Primary source