You are the commanders, your men will look to you and act as you do. Let no officer keep to himself or his brother officers, but circulate daylong am… - Steven Pressfield

Sjećaš li se,Dijaneče,kad smo se borili s Tebancima kod Eritreje?Kad su se slomili i pobjegli?Bio je to prvi bijeg kojem sam svjedočio.Zaprepastio me je.Postoji li primitivniji i više ponižavajući prizor pod suncem nego kad se falanga slama zbog straha?Zbog njega se čovjek srami što je smrtnik,kad ugleda tkavu neplemenitost čak i kod neprijatelja.To krši sve božje zakone.Samoubojičino lice koje se pretvorilo u grimasu prijezira sada se razvedrilo u nešto veselije.Ah,ali suprotno njemu:linija koja se drži ! Može li išta biti veličanstvenije,plemenitije?!

"It is a commonplace among artists and children at play that they're not aware of time or solitude while they're chasing their vision. The hours fly. The sculptress and the tree- climbing tyke both look up blinking when Mom calls, "Suppertime!

The foe fell back. Our companies pushed through. For the time it takes to count to five hundred, I thought we might even conquer. For now the mulishness of the Athenian Soldier-farmer, the pigheaded refusal to yield which had at first been scorned by his betters-now this shone to the fore. By the gods, these clodkickers had learned how to fight! [...] They no longer fell apart at the apparition of cowardice among their comrades or themselves, but had come to understand that the same man may play the craven in the morning and the hero in the afternoon. Give them this: they were tough. Tougher than the Scyths and Getai, for all their savage valor, and tougher than the Amazons, despite their dash and dazzle.