Some things never change!

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

“What you leave behind is not what is engraved on stone momuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.”

“Wait for that wisest of all counselors, Time.”

“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.”

“Freedom is the sure possession of those alone who have the courage to defend it.”

"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.”

“What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.”

“We cultivate refinement without extravagance and knowledge without effeminacy; wealth we employ more for use than for show, and place the real disgrace of poverty not in owning to the fact but in declining the struggle against it. Our public men have, besides politics, their private affairs to attend to, and our ordinary citizens, though occupied with the pursuits of industry, are still fair judges of public matters; for, unlike any other nation, regarding him who takes no part in these duties not as unambitious but as useless, we Athenians are able to judge at all events if we cannot originate, and instead of looking on discussion as a stumbling-block in the way of action, we think it an indispensable preliminary to any wise action at all.”

“Time is the wisest counsellor of all”

“Just because you do not take an interest in politics...does not mean that politics won't take an interest in you.”

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

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

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

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

About bureaucrats: "Perhaps they were sometimes necessary lest a nation become constipated, but one must always remember that they were only feces, with a smelly function."



The above quotes were by Pericles, who was born in 495BC. Some things never change! Go figure.

Pericles (/ˈpɛrɪkliːz/; Greek: Περικλῆς Periklēs, pronounced [pe.ri.klɛ̂ːs] in Classical Attic; c. 495 – 429 BC) was arguably the most prominent and influential Greek statesman, orator and general of Athens during the Golden Age— specifically the time between the Persian and Peloponnesian wars. He was descended, through his mother, from the powerful and historically influential Alcmaeonid family.

Pericles had such a profound influence on Athenian society that Thucydides, a contemporary historian, acclaimed him as "the first citizen of Athens".[1] Pericles turned the Delian League into an Athenian empire, and led his countrymen during the first two years of the Peloponnesian War. The period during which he led Athens, roughly from 461 to 429 BC, is sometimes known as the "Age of Pericles", though the period thus denoted can include times as early as the Persian Wars, or as late as the next century.

Pericles promoted the arts and literature; it is principally through his efforts that Athens holds the reputation of being the educational and cultural center of the ancient Greek world. He started an ambitious project that generated most of the surviving structures on the Acropolis (including the Parthenon). This project beautified and protected the city, exhibited its glory, and gave work to the people.[2] Pericles also fostered Athenian democracy to such an extent that critics call him a populist.