"The foe fell back. Our companies pushed through. For the time it takes to count to five hundred, I thought we might even conquer. For now the mulishness of the Athenian Soldier-farmer, the pigheaded refusal to yield which had at first been scorned by his betters-now this shone to the fore. By the gods, these clodkickers had learned how to fight! [...] They no longer fell apart at the apparition of cowardice among their comrades or themselves, but had come to understand that the same man may play the craven in the morning and the hero in the afternoon. Give them this: they were tough. Tougher than the Scyths and Getai, for all their savage valor, and tougher than the Amazons, despite their dash and dazzle."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Novelists from the United StatesNon-fiction authors from the United StatesHistorical novelistsScreenwriters from the United States
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Damon p. 308
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Steven_Pressfield
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Steven Pressfield
33 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Steven Pressfield →
Related Quotes
"The Mammoth we attacked was not Rommel's after all. [...] Rommel himself, we'll learn later, was not in that camp and…"
"The greatest commanders never issue orders. Rather, they compel by their own acts and virtue the emulation of those t…"
"One act I will never stand for is leaving our fellows behind. Bugger military protocol, or lofty notions of honour. I…"
"I had become someone they could look to for leadership and direction, who would shield from meddling from above, and …"
"These are armed enemy, who have hastened to this site with one object only: to take the lives of my comanions and me.…"
"You English are loath to embrace the virtues of the warrior. Such an act embarrasses you. You prefer to see yourselve…"
"The counterfeit innovator is wildly self-confident. The real one is scared to death."
"Nothing relieves Irish despair. The Irishman's complaint lies not with his circumstance, which might be rendered bril…"
"I could be counted upon to perform the mission they had assigned me, or, if that was unworkable, to improvise and tur…"
"I love a guy who knows how to bitch. Any moron can gripe about chow or rotations, but someone who can get exercised o…"