I have often been convinced that a democracy is incapable of empire.
—Thucydides, c. 404 BC
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Quotes
If the present be compared with the remote past, it is easily seen that in all cities and in all peoples there are the same desires and the same passions as there always were.
—Niccolò Machiavelli, c. 1513The true mission of American sports is to prepare young men for war.
—Dwight D. Eisenhower, c. 1952A friend who is very near and dear may in time become as useless as a relative.
—George Ade, 1902Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it.
—George Bernard Shaw, 1903The hour of departure has arrived, and we go our ways—I to die, and you to live. Which is better, only the god knows.
—Socrates, 399 BCThere be beasts that, at a year old, observe more, and pursue that which is for their good more prudently, than a child can do at ten.
—Thomas Hobbes, 1651In politics, what begins in fear usually ends in folly.
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 1830You can steal a lot more with a computer than with a gun.
—Gina Smith, 1997Africa has her mysteries, and even a wise man cannot understand them. But a wise man respects them.
—Miriam Makeba, 1988The most advanced nations are always those who navigate the most.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1870The only equals are those who are equally rich.
—Burundian proverbNo man will take counsel, but every man will take money: therefore money is better than counsel.
—Jonathan Swift, 1702