Republic

"Let me, as if on a holiday, do what lazy people do who feast on their own thoughts when out for a solitary walk. Instead of finding out how something they desire might actually come about, these people pass that over, so as to avoid tiring deliberations about what’s possible and what isn’t. They assume that what they desire is available and proceed to arrange the rest, taking pleasure in thinking through everything they’ll do when they have what they want, thereby making their souls ever lazier."

"And could you find anything that belongs more to wisdom than truth does?"

"He makes the rational and spirited parts sit on the ground, beneath appetite, one on either side, reducing them to slaves."

Eudemian Ethics

"For children and the sick and the insane have many opinions which no sensible man would discuss......"

"And similarly it is also superfluous to examine the opinions of the multitude either; for they talk at random about almost everything, and especially about happiness."

"Most of the points debated and the difficulties raised will be clear if it be satisfactorily determined what the proper conception of happiness is - does it consist merely in a person's possessing some particular quality of conduct even more necessary."

"....he thought that all the virtues are forms of knowledge, so that knowing justice and being just must go together....."

"For because to say nothing at random but use of reasoned argument seems to mark a philosopher....."

"It is manifest, therefore, that the Absolute Good we are looking for is not the Form of good, nor yet the good as universal, for the Form is unchangeable and impractical, and the universal good though changeable is not practicable."

History of the Peloponnesian War

"An Athenian is always an innovator, quick to form a resolution and quick at carrying it out....the Athenian daring will outrun its own resources; they will take risks against their better judgement, and still, in the midst of danger, remain confident."

"Future ages will wonder at us, as the present age wonders at us now. We do not need the praises of a Homer, or of anyone else whose words may delight us for the moment, but whose estimation of facts will fall short of what is really true. For our adventurous spirit has forced an entry into every sea and into every land; and everywhere we have left behind us everlasting memorials of good done to our friends or suffering inflicted on our enemies.

"This, then, is the kind of city for which these men, who could not bear the thought of losing her, nobly fought and nobly died. It is only natural that every one of us who survive them should be willing to undergo hardships in her service...........We who remain behind.....must resolve to keep the same fighting spirit against the foe. It is not simply a question of estimating the advantages in theory. What I would prefer is that you should fix your eyes every day on the greatness of Athens as she really is, and should fall in love with her." - Pericles' Speech

"The Athenians hurried on towards the river Assinarus, partly because they were under pressure from the attacks made upon them from every side by the numbers of cavalry and the masses of other troops, and thought that things would not be so bad if they got to the river, partly because they were exhausted and were longing for water to drink. Once they reached the river, they rushed down into it, and now all discipline was at an end. Every man wanted to be the first to get across, and, as the enemy persisted in his attacks, the crossing now became a difficult matter. Forced to crowd in close together, they fell upon each other and trampled each other underfoot; some were killed immediately by their own spears, others got entangled among themselves and among the baggage and were swept away by the river. Syracusan troops were stationed on the opposite bank, which was a steep one. They hurled down their weapons from above on the Athenians, most of whom, in a disordered mass, were greedily drinking in the deep river-bed."

"When the news reached Athens, for along time people would not believe it, even thought they were given precise information from the very soldiers who had been presents at the event and had escaped; still they thought that this total destruction was something that could not possibly be true. And when they did learn the facts, they turned against the public speakers who had been in favour of the expedition, as though they themselves had not voted for it, and also became angry with the prophets and soothsayers and all who are the time had, by various methods of divination, encouraged them to believe that they would conquer Sicily. They were feeling the stress in every department and on every front, and now, after this last blow, great indeed was the fear that beset them and the consternation."

If anyone has read Antigone and happens to remember the general location of a line that goes something along the lines of, "sightless, tearless, and with bloody faces turned towards the sky" I will adore you forever.