Demosthenes Quotes
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Beware lest in your anxiety to avoid war you obtain a master
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Whatever shall be to the advantage of all, may that prevail!
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We believe whatever we want to believe.
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To remind a man of the good turns you have done him is very much like a reproach.
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It is not possible to found a lasting power upon injustice, perjury, and treachery.
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It is the natural disposition of all men to listen with pleasure to abuse and slander of their neighbour, and to hear with impatience those who utter praises of themselves.
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What we have in us of the image of God is the love of truth and justice.
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The man who is in the highest state of prosperity, and who thinks his fortune is most secure, knows not if it will remain unchanged till the evening.
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Do you remember that in classical times when Cicero had finished speaking, the people said, "How well he spoke" but when Demosthenes had finished speaking, they said, "Let us march.
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Nothing is easier than self-deceit.
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As a vessel is known by the sound, whether it be cracked or not; so men are proved, by their speeches, whether they be wise or foolish.
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Great and unexpected successes are often the cause of foolish rushing into acts of extravagance.
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I decline to buy repentance at the cost of ten thousand drachmas.
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Success has a great tendency to conceal and throw a veil over the evil deeds of men.
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It is not possible to found a lasting power upon injustice, perjury, and treachery. These may, perhaps, succeed for once, and borrow for awhile, from hope, a gay and flourishing appearance. But time betrays their weakness, and they fall into ruin of themselves. For, as in structures of every kind, the lower parts should have the greatest firmness--so the grounds and principles of actions should be just and true.
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There is a great deal of wishful thinking in such cases it is the easiest thing of all to deceive ones self.
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Every dictator is an enemy of freedom, an opponent of law.
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There are all kinds of devices invented for the protection and preservation of countries: defensive barriers, forts, trenches, and the like... But prudent minds have as a natural gift one safeguard which is the common possession of all, and this applies especially to the dealings of democracies. What is this safeguard? Skepticism. This you must preserve. This you must retain. If you can keep this, you need fear no harm.
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One believes in what one wants to believe in.
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By persistent labor man may attain to all excellence.
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Every advantage in the past is judged in the light of the final issue.
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All speech is vain and empty unless it be accompanied by action.
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Small opportunities often presage great enterprises.
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Everything great is not always good, but all good things, are great.
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The readiest and surest way to get rid of censure, is to correct ourselves.
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No man who is not willing to help himself has any right to apply to his friends, or to the gods.
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The man who has received a benefit ought always to remember it, but he who has granted it ought to forget the fact at once.
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The man who flies shall fight again. [Lat., Qui fugiebat, rusus praeliabitur.]
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The best protection for the people is not necessarily to believe everything people tell them.
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Excessive dealings with tyrants are not good for the security of free states.
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