Pericles quotes

Pericles was an influential statesman and orator of ancient Athens during its Golden Age. His leadership helped shape Athenian democracy and expand the city’s empire. He is remembered for fostering arts, literature, and the construction of the Parthenon. Here are 25 of his quotes:

Time is the wisest counselor of all. (Pericles)
What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others. View quote
Pericles
Freedom is the sure possession of those alone who have the courage to defend it. View quote
Pericles
The whole Earth is the Sepulchre of famous men; and their story is not graven only on Stone over their native earth, but lives on far away, without visible symbol, woven into the stuff of other men's lives. View quote
Pericles
We do not say that a man who takes no interest in politics is a man who minds his own business; we say that he has no business here at all. View quote
Pericles
Trees, though they are cut and lopped, grow up again quickly, but if men are destroyed, it is not easy to get them again. View quote
Pericles
Although only a few may originate a policy, we are all able to judge it. View quote
Pericles
But the bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them, glory and danger alike, and yet notwithstanding go out to meet it. View quote
Pericles
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. View quote
Pericles
Future ages will wonder at us, as the present age wonders at us now. View quote
Pericles
Hatred and unpopularity at the moment have fallen to the lot of all who have aspired to rule others; but where odium must be incurred, true wisdom incurs it for the highest objects. Hatred also is short-lived; but that which makes the splendour of the present and the glory of the future remains for ever unforgotten. Make your decision, therefore, for glory then and honour now, and attain both objects by instant and zealous effort: do not send heralds to Lacedaemon, and do not betray any sign of being oppressed by your present sufferings, since they whose minds are least sensitive to calamity, and whose hands are most quick to meet it, are the greatest men and the greatest communities. (Pericles)
Nor is it any longer possible for you to give up this empire ... Your empire is now like a tyranny: it may have been wrong to take it; it is certainly dangerous to let it go. View quote
Pericles
Our love of what is beautiful does not lead to extravagance; our love of the things of the mind does not make us soft. We regard wealth as something to be properly used, rather than as something to boast about. As for poverty, no one need be ashamed to admit it, the real shame is in not taking practical measures to escape from it. View quote
Pericles
Our constitution does not copy the laws of neighboring states; we are rather a pattern to others than imitators ourselves. View quote
Pericles
Famous men have the whole earth as their memorial. View quote
Pericles
Wait for the wisest of all counselors, Time. View quote
Pericles
They gave her their lives, to her and to all of us, and for their own selves they won praises that never grow old, the most splendid of sepulchers - not the sepulchre in which their bodies are laid, but where their glory remains eternal in men's minds, always there on the right occasion to stir others to speech or to action. For famous men have the whole earth as their memorial: it is not only the inscriptions on their graves in their own country that mark them out; no, in foreign lands also, not in any visible form but in people's hearts, their memory abides and grows. It is for you to try to be like them. Make up your minds that happiness depends on being free, and freedom depends on being courageous. View quote
Pericles
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 to accept it. View quote
Pericles
We regard wealth as something to be properly used, rather than as something to boast about. As for poverty, no one need be ashamed to admit it: the real shame is in not taking practical measures to escape from it. View quote
Pericles
Those who are politically apathetic can only survive if they are supported by people who are capable of taking action. View quote
Pericles
Having knowledge but lacking the power to express it clearly is no better than never having any ideas at all. (Pericles)
A woman's greatest glory is to be little talked about by men, whether for good or ill. View quote
Pericles
Our love of what is beautiful does not lead to extravagance; our love of the things of the mind does not make us soft. View quote
Pericles
We do not imitate, but are a model to others. View quote
Pericles
Just because you are not interested in politics, does not mean that politics is not interested in you. View quote
Pericles