[H]e who voluntarily confronts tremendous odds must have very great internal resources to draw upon. - Thucydides

straight into action. And those who contemptuously supposed that they would know all in advance, and that there was no need to seize by force what would come to them through intellect, were instead caught off guard and destroyed. [84] In Corcyra, then, most of these atrocities were first committed: all that men do in resisting those who, after ruling them abusively rather than moderately, provide opportunity for revenge; all that men resolve unjustly when, wishing to escape their usual poverty — especially if pressed by disaster — they desire their neighbors’ possessions; all that others, attacking not for gain but on clearly equal terms, impelled most by

You can now, if you choose, employ your present success to advantage, so as to keep what you have got and gain honour and reputation besides, and you can avoid the mistake of those who meet with an extraordinary piece of good fortune, and are led on by hope to grasp continually at something further, through having already succeeded without expecting it.

those who are politically apathetic can only survive if they are supported by people who are capable of taking action.