"I could tell you a long story (and you know it as well as I do) about what is to be gained by beating the enemy back. What I would prefer is that you should fix your eyes every day on the greatness of Athens as she realty is, and should fall in love with her. When you realize her greatness, then reflect that what made her great was men with a spirit of adventure, men who knew their duty, men who were ashamed to fall below a certain standard. If they ever failed in an enterprise, they made up their minds that at any rate the city should not find their courage lacking to her, and they gave to her the best contribution that they could. They gave her their lives, to her and to all of us, and for their own selves they won praises that never grow old, the most splendid of sepulchers — not the sepulchre in which their bodies are laid, but where their glory remains eternal in men's minds, always there on the right occasion to stir others to speech or to action. For famous men have the whole earth as their memorial: it is not only the inscriptions on their graves in their own country that mark them out; no, in foreign lands also, not in any visible form but in people's hearts, their memory abides and grows. It is for you to try to be like them. Make up your minds that happiness depends on being free, and freedom depends on being courageous."

"Hatred and unpopularity at the moment have fallen to the lot of all who have aspired to rule others; but where odium must be incurred, true wisdom incurs it for the highest objects. Hatred also is short-lived; but that which makes the splendour of the present and the glory of the future remains for ever unforgotten. Make your decision, therefore, for glory then and honour now, and attain both objects by instant and zealous effort: do not send heralds to Lacedaemon, and do not betray any sign of being oppressed by your present sufferings, since they whose minds are least sensitive to calamity, and whose hands are most quick to meet it, are the greatest men and the greatest communities."

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

"Our constitution does not copy the laws of neighboring states; we are rather a pattern to others than imitators ourselves"

"If we turn to our military policy, there also we differ from our antagonists. We throw open our city to the world, and never by alien acts exclude foreigners from any opportunity of learning or observing..."

"We do not say that a man who takes no interest in politics is a man who minds his own business; we say that he has no business here at all."

"Whoso neglects learning in his youth, loses the past and is dead for the future."

"Τίς δ᾽ οἶδεν εἰ ζῆν τοῦθ᾽ ὁ κέκληται θανεῖν, τὸ ζῆν δὲ θνῄσκειν ἐστί"

"Ὦ φιλόζωοι βροτοὶ, οἱ τὴν ἐπιστείχουσαν ἡμέραν ἰδεῖν οὕτως ἔρως βροτοῖσιν ἐγκεῖται βίου"

"Every man is like the company he is wont to keep."

"Silver and gold are not the only coin; virtue too passes current all over the world."

"A woman should be good for everything at home, but abroad good for nothing."

"Cowards do not count in battle; they are there, but not in it."

"A bad ending follows a bad beginning."

"Toil, says the proverb, is the sire of fame."

"Try first thyself, and after call in God; For to the worker God himself lends aid."

"Φησίν τις εἶναι δῆτ᾽ ἐν οὐρανῷ θεούς; οὐκ εἰσίν, οὐκ εἴσ᾽, εἴ τις ἀνθρώπων θέλει μὴ τῷ παλαιῷ μῶρος ὢν χρῆσθαι λόγῳ. σκέψασθε δ᾽ αὐτοί, μὴ ἐπὶ τοῖς ἐμοῖς λόγοις γνώμην ἔχοντες. φήμ᾽ ἐγὼ τυραννίδα κτείνειν τε πλείστους κτημάτων τ᾿ ἀποστερεῖν ὅρκους τε παραβαίνοντας ἐκπορθεῖν πόλεις· καὶ ταῦτα δρῶντες μᾶλλόν εἰσ᾽ εὐδαίμονες. τῶν εὐσεβούντων ἡσυχῇ καθ᾽ ἡμέραν. πόλεις τε μικρὰς οἶδα τιμώσας θεούς, αἳ μειζόνων κλύουσι δυσσεβεστέρων λόγχης ἀριθμῷ πλείονος κρατούμεναι. οἶμαι δ᾽ ἂν ὑμᾶς, εἴ τις ἀργὸς ὢν θεοῖς εὔχοιτο καὶ μὴ χειρὶ συλλέγοι βίον, μαθεῖν ἂν ὡς οὐκ εἰσίν. αἱ δ᾽ εὐπραξίαι τὰ θεῖα πυργοῦσ᾽ αἱ κακαί τε συμφοραί."

"Events will take their course, it is no good of being angry at them; he is happiest who wisely turns them to the best account."

"Ignorance of one's misfortunes is clear gain."

"Man's best possession is a sympathetic wife."

"Woman is woman's natural ally."

"ὅσοι γὰρ εἰς ἔρωτα πίπτουσιν βροτῶν ἐσθλῶν ὅταν τύχωσι τῶν ἐρωμένων οὐκ ἔσθ' ὁποίας λείπεται τῆς ἡδονῆς."

"Ἡδύ τοι σωθέντα μεμνῆσθαι πόνων."

"Waste not fresh tears over old griefs."

"The nobly born must nobly meet his fate."

"Φεῦ φεῦ, παλαιὸς αἶνος ὡς καλῶς ἔχει· γέροντες οὐδέν ἐσμεν ἄλλο πλὴν ψόφος καὶ σχῆμ', ὀνείρων δ᾽ ἕρπομεν μιμήματα· νοῦς δ᾽ οὐκ ἔνεστιν, οἰόμεσθα δ᾽ εὐ φρονεῖν."

"Time will explain it all. He is a talker, and needs no questioning before he speaks."

"A bad beginning makes a bad ending."

"κακὸν γυναῖκα πρὸς νέαν ζεῦξαι νέον· μακρὰ γὰρ ἰσχὺς μᾶλλον ἀρσένων μένει, θήλεια δ' ἥβη θᾶσσον ἐκλείπει δέμας."

"The company of just and righteous men is better than wealth and a rich estate."

"Humility, a sense of reverence before the sons of heaven — of all the prizes that a mortal man might win, these, I say, are wisest; these are best."

"χρηστοῖσι δούλοις συμφορὰ τὰ δεσποτῶν."

"Slow but sure moves the might of the gods."

"Talk sense to a fool and he calls you foolish."

"Dionysus: He who believes needs no explanation. Pentheus: What's the worth in believing worthless things? Dionysus: Much worth, but not worth telling you, it seems."

"But cleverness is not wisdom, nor is the thinking on things unfit for mortals."

"Ἁπλοῦς ὁ μῦθος τῆς ἀληθείας ἔφυ, κοὐ ποικίλων δεῖ τἄνδιχ᾽ ἑρμηνευμάτων"

"Ἓν μὲν μέγιστον, οὐκ ἔχει παρρησίαν."

"Ὅταν γὰρ ἡδὺς τοῖς λόγοις, φρονῶν κακῶς πείθῃ τὸ πλῆθος, τῇ πόλει κακὸν μέγα."

"— Δεινὸν οἱ πολλοί, κακούργους ὅταν ἔχωσι προστάτας. — Ἀλλ᾽ ὅταν χρηστοὺς λάβωσι, χρηστὰ βουλεύουσ᾽ ἀεί."

"Ὅταν δὲ σὺ στένῃς, ἡμᾶς παρόντας χρή σε νουθετεῖν φίλα· ἐπικουρίαι γὰρ αἵδε τοῖς φίλοις καλαί."

"Δεινὸν σοφιστὴν εἶπας, ὅστις εὖ φρονεῖν τοὺς μὴ φρονοῦντας δυνατός ἐστ᾽ ἀναγκάσαι."

"Πρὸς τὰς τύχας γὰρ τὰς φρένας κεκτήμεθα."

"Ἁμαρτεῖν εἰκὸς ἀνθρώπους, τέκνον."

"Ἡ γλῶσσ᾽ ὀμώμοχ᾽, ἡ δὲ φρὴν ἀνώμοτος."

"Τοι κάλ᾽ ἐν πολλοῖσι κάλλιον λέγειν."

"Ὀνάσθαι, μὴ μαθεῖν, βούλου, τέκνον."

"Εἰσὶν δ᾽ ἐπῳδαὶ καὶ λόγοι θελκτήριοι."

"Ἐν σοφοῖσι γὰρ τάδ᾽ ἐστὶ θνητῶν, λανθάνειν τὰ μὴ καλά."

"Κἀν βροτοῖς αἱ δεύτεραί πως φροντίδες σοφώτεραι."