Kata-Kata Bijak Dari Zaman Klasik - Quotes From Classical Age

1. Vegeius

An adversary is more hurt by desertion than by slaughter.

What can a soldier do who charges when out of breath?

Few men are born brave, many become so through training and force of discipline.

Valour is superior to numbers.

An ambuscade, if discovered and promptly surrounded, will repay the intended mischief with interest

A general is not easily overcome who can form a true judgement of his own and the enemy's forces.

Qui desiderat pacem praeparet bellum
Let him who desires peace prepare for war

We die today not only for our friends and family but for our gods and for our forefathers and men before them so pray to them to make us victorious

Let all be present and expect the palm, the prize of victory.

2. Homer

So ends the bloody business of the day.

Even the bravest cannot fight beyond his strength.

Men grow tired of sleep, love, singing and dancing sooner than war.

He serves me most, who serves his country best.

The blade itself incites to violence

To those that flee comes neither power nor glory

Ye gods, what dastards would our host command? Swept to the war, the lumber of the land.

Noble and manly music invigorates the spirit, strengthens the wavering man, and incites him to great and worthy deeds.

A glorious death is his who for his country falls. 

3. Plautus

Conquered, we conquer

Ah, yes, mere infantry - poor beggars...

The valiant profit more their country than the finest, cleverest speakers

4. Sophocles

Quick decisions are unsafe decisions.

It is the brave man's part to live with glory, or with glory die. 

5. Livy

The outcome corresponds less to expectations in war than in any other case whatsoever.

Vae victus.
Woe to the vanquished.

To a good general luck is important. 

6. Sun Tzu

All warfare is based on deception.

In war, numbers alone confer no advantage. Do not advance relying on sheer military power.

Generally management of the many is the same as generally management of the few, it's a matter of organization.

He who knows when he can fight and when he cannot will be victorious.

7. Herodotus

In peace, sons bury their fathers, in war, fathers bury their sons.

Far better is to have a stout heart always and suffer one's share of evils, than to be ever fearing what may happen. 

8. Tacitus

The proper arts of a general are judgement and prudence.

Great empires are not maintained by timidity.

A bad peace is even worse than a war

Even the bravest men are frightened by sudden terrors

The desire for safety stands against every great and noble enterprise.

Valour is the contempt of death and pain.

They make a solitude and call it peace.

9. Plato

Every care must be taken that our auxiliaries, being stronger than our citizens, may not grow too much for them and become savage beasts.

Only the dead have seen the end of the war.

The rulers of the State are the only ones who should have the privilege of lying.

10. Aeschylus

I think the slain care little if they sleep or rise again.

A people's voice is dangerous when charged with wrath.

11. Polybius

In war we must always leave room for strokes of fortune, and accidents that cannot be foreseen.

A good general not only sees the way to victory, he also knows when victory is impossible.

12. Horace

Bella detesta matribus.
Wars are the dread of mothers.

Quae caret ora cruore nostro?
What coast knows not our blood?

Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori.
It is a sweet and seemly thing to die for one's country.

Adversity reveals the genius of a general; good fortune conceals it

A wise man in times of peace prepares for war.

13. Thucydides

A collision at sea can ruin your entire day.

The strong did what they could, and the weak suffered what they must.

Self-control is the chief element in self respect, and self-respect is the chief element in courage.

 14. Hermocrates of Syracuse

The true contempt of an invader is shown by deeds of valour in the field.

They have an abundance of gold and silver, and these make war, like other things, go smoothly.

When there is mutual fear, men think twice before they make aggression upon one another.

Nobody is driven in to war by ignorance, and no one who thinks he will gain anything from it is deterred by fear.

15. Euripides

The god of war hates those who hesitate

Danger gleams like sunshine to a brave man's eyes.

A large army is always disorderly. 

16. Ovid

Fas est et ab hoste doceri.
It is right to learn, even from the enemy.

The gods favour the bold.

 17. Cicero

Armed forces abroad are of little value unless there is prudent counsel at home.

The sinews of war are infinite money.

War is not so much a matter of weapons, as of money.

Silent enim leges inter arma
Laws are silent in times of war

18. Astotle

War, as the saying goes, is full of false alarms.

We make war that we may live in peace.

The wise man speaks because he has something to say, the fool because he has to say something

19. Pulibius Syrus

It is a bad plan that cannot be altered.

Pardon one offence and you encourage the commission of many

We should provide in peace what we need in war

The cruelty of war makes for peace.

Necessity knows no law except to conquer.

He is best secure from dangers who is on his guard even when he seems safe.

 20. Gaius Julius Caesar

In war important events result from trivial causes.

War gives the right of the conquerors to impose any conditions they please upon the vanquished.

Veni, vidi, vici.
I came, I saw, I conquered.

Alea iacta est
The die is cast

If you must break the law, do it to seize power, in all other cases observe it.

21. Hippocrates

Men of Athens, there is not much time for exhortation, but to the brave a few words are as good as many.

War is the only proper school of the surgeon.

22. Seneca

If a man does not know to what port he is sailing, no wind is favourable.

The fortunes of war are always doubtful.

Constant exposure to dangers will breed contempt for them. 

23. Latin proverbs

Fortis cadere, cedere non potest.
A brave man may fall, but he cannot yield.

Victory loves prudence.
Flet victus, victor interiit.

The conquered mourns, the conqueror is undone.

Timidi mater non flet.
A coward's mother does not weep.

Arms keep peace

To blunder twice is not allowed in war

 24. Other

Against danger it pays to be prepared.
- Aesop

Brave men are a city's strongest tower of defence.
- Alcaeus

A dead enemy always smells good.
- Alus Vitellus

Cry "Havoc!" and let slip the dogs of war.
- Shakespeare: Julius Caesar, III, 1

He conquers who endures.
- Persius

Extraordinary rains pretty generally fall after great battles.
- Plutarch

I am more afraid of our own mistakes than of our enemies' designs.
- Pericles

When one side goes against the enemy with the gods' gift of stronger morale, then their adversaries, as a rule, cannot withstand them.
- Xenophon

Bella, horida bella!
Wars, horrid wars!
- Virgil

Willing obedience always beats forced obedience
- Xenophon

Soldiers do not like being under the command of one who is not of noble birth.
- Onosander

To an imperial city nothing is inconsistent which is expedient.
- Euphemus of Athens

In the moment of action remember the value of silence and order.
- Phormio of Athens

If a man does not strike first, he will be first struck.
- Athenogoras of Syracuse

Fortes fortuna adiuvat.
Fortune favours the brave.
- Terence

In war we must be speedy.
- Silius Italicus

Learn to obey before you command.
- Solon of Athens

Varus, give me back my legions.
- Augustus Caesar: After the defeat and annihilation of Varus' column in Teutoberg Forest

The Spartans do not ask how many enemies but where they are.
- Agis II of Sparta

Come home with this shield, or upon it.
- A Spartan mother equips her son

Who was the first that forged the deadly blade? Of rugged steel his savage soul was made.
- Tibullus

A small country cannot contend with a great; the few cannot contend with the many; and the weak cannot contend with the strong
- Cencius

A disorderly mob is no more an army than a heap of building materials is a house
- Socrates

To brave men, the prizes that war offers are liberty and fame
- Lycurgus of Sparta

War spares not the brave but the cowardly
- Anacreon

It is the noblest and safest thing for a great army to be visibly animated by one spirit
- Archidamus of Sparta

Ah! The generals! They are numerous but not good for much!
- Aristophanes

Let them hate us as long as they fear us
- Caligula

To lead untrained people to war is to throw them away
- Confucius

Only the brave enjoy noble and glorious deaths
- Dionysius

The walls shall shake at the noise of the horsemen, and of the wheels, and of the chariots
- Ezekiel, XXVI, 10

Alta sedent civilis vulnera dextrae
Deep are the wounds that civil strife inflicts
- Lucan

It is pleasant, when the sea is high and the winds are dashing the waves about, to watch from the shores the struggles of another
- Lucretius

Hannibal knew how to gain a victory, but not how to use it
- Maharbal

The man who runs away will fight again
- Menander

An alliance with the powerful is never to be trusted
- Phaedrus

War is sweet to those who have never experienced it
- Pindar

How are the mighty fallen in the midst of battle!
- II Samuel, I, 25

After the war is over, make alliances
- Greek proverb

March divided and fight concentrated
- Military maxim

Divide and conquer
- Military maxim