Pericles Quotes

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

Pericles

#2. Time as he grows old teaches many lessons. - Aeschylus Time is the wisest counselor of all.

Pericles

#3. 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.

Pericles

#4. Wait for the wisest of all counselors, Time.

Pericles

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

Pericles

#6. 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.

Pericles

#7. Fishes live in the sea, as men do on land: the great ones eat up the little ones.

Pericles

#8. [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.

Pericles

#9. The marketplace is democratic.

Pericles

#10. 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.

Pericles

#11. We Athenians hold that it is not poverty that is disgraceful but the failure to struggle against it.

Pericles

#12. Freedom is the sure possession of those alone who have the courage to defend it.

Pericles

#13. Wait for that wisest of all counselores, Time.

Pericles

#14. All who have taken it upon themselves to rule over others have incurred hatred and unpopularity for a time; but if one has a great aim to pursue, this burden of envy must be accepted, and it is wise to accept it.

Pericles

#15. For heroes have the whole earth for their tomb; and in lands far from their own, where the column with its epitaph declares it, there is enshrined in every breast a record unwritten with no tablet to preserve it, except that of the heart.

Pericles

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

Pericles

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

Pericles

#18. Time is the wisest counsellor of all

Pericles

#19. 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.

Pericles

#20. 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.

Pericles

#21. 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.

Pericles

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

Pericles

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

Pericles

#24. For a man's counsel cannot have equal weight or worth, when he alone has no children to risk in the general danger.

Pericles

#25. 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.

Pericles

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

Pericles

#27. Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you.

Pericles

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

Pericles

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

Pericles

#30. 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.

Pericles

#31. Trees, though they are cut and loped, grow up again quickly, but if men are destroyed, it is not easy to get them again.

Pericles

#32. It is right to endure with resignation what the gods send, and to face one's enemies with courage.

Pericles

#33. Who makes the fairest show means most deceit.

Pericles

#34. She is best who is least spoken of among men, whether for good or evil.

Pericles

#35. 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.

Pericles

#36. Time is the wisest counselor of all.

Pericles

#37. It is difficult to argue with the belly, for it has no ears.

Pericles

#38. Better die standing than live kneeling.

Pericles

#39. Those who are politically apathetic can only survive if they are supported by people who are capable of taking action.

Pericles

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

Pericles

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

Pericles

#42. For famous men have the whole earth as their memorial.

Pericles

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

Pericles