Pericles

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

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.

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

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

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

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...

For famous men have the whole earth as their memorial.

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

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

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