Pericles Quotes

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

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.

Time is the wisest counselor of all.

Remember, too, that if your country has the greatest name in all the world, it is because she never bent before disaster; because she has expended more life and effort in war than any other city, and has won for herself a power greater than any hitherto known, the memory of which will descend to the latest posterity.

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.

[F]or 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 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.

The whole earth is the tomb of heroic men and their story is not given only on stone over their clay but abides everywhere without visible symbol woven into the stuff of other mens lives.

Just because you are not interested in politics, does not mean that politics is not interested in you.

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

If Athens shall appear great to you, consider then that her glories were purchased by valiant men, and by men who learned their duty.

The freedom which we enjoy in our government extends also to our ordinary life. There, far from exercising a jealous surveillance over each other, we do not feel called upon to be angry with our neighbor for doing what he likes, or even to indulge in those injurious looks which cannot fail to be offensive, although they inflict no positive penalty.

I am more afraid of our own mistakes than of our enemies' designs.

Wait for that wisest of all counselores, Time.

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

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.

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.

I am of opinion that national greatness is more for the advantage of private citizens, than any individual well-being coupled with public humiliation. A man may be personally ever so well off, and yet if his country be ruined he must be ruined with it; whereas a flourishing commonwealth always affords chances of salvation to unfortunate individuals.

Those who can think, but cannot express what they think, place themselves at the level of those who cannot think.

Your great glory is not to be inferior to what you have been given by nature, and the greatest glory of a woman is to be least talked about by men, whether theyare praising or criticizing you.

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

Wait for the wisest of all counselors, Time.

Our form of government does not enter into rivalry with the institutions of others. Our government does not copy our neighbors', but is 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 there exists equal justice to all and 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

To face calamity with a mind as unclouded as may be, and quickly to react against it-that in a city and in an individual-is real strength.

A spirit of freedom governs our conduct; not only in public affairs, but also in managing the small tensions of every day life, where we show no animosity at our neighbor's choice of pleasures, nor cast aspersions that may hurt even if they do not harm.

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

Better die standing than live kneeling.

Future ages will wonder at us, as the present age wonders at us now.

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

In private matters everyone is equal before the law. In public matters, when it is a question of putting power and responsibility into the hands of one man rather than another, what counts is not rank or money, but the ability to do the job well.

The marketplace is democratic.

Time is the wisest counsellor of all

Who makes the fairest show means most deceit.

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