“No human being will ever know the truth, for even if they happened to say it by chance, they would not know they had done so.” LifeTruth Author:Xenophon
“And Cyrus, they say, observed: 'How much trouble you have at your dinner, grandfather, if you have to reach out your hands to all these dishes and taste all these different kinds of food!' 'Why so?' said Astyages. 'Really now, don't you think this dinner much finer than your Persian dinners?' 'No, grandfather,' Cyrus replied to this; 'but the road to satiety is much more simple and direct in our country than with you; for bread and meat take us there; but you, though you make for the same goal as we, go wandering through many a maze, up and down, and only arrive at last at the point that we long since have reached.” PhilosophyWisdomVirtueFoodHungerTemperancePersiaSatietySpartaCyrus Book:Cyropaedia, Volume 1, books 1-4 Source: Cyropaedia, Volume 1, books 1-4
“. . . no speech of admonition can be so fine that it will all at once make those who hear it good men if they are not good already; it would surely not make archers good if they had not had previous practice in shooting; neither would it make lancers good, nor horsemen; it cannot even make men able to endure bodily labour, unless they have been trained to it before.” CharacterVirtueHabitEthicsCyrusXenophonCyropaedia Book:Cyropaedia, Volume 1, books 1-4 Source: Cyropaedia, Volume 1, books 1-4
“You are well aware that it is not numbers or strength that bring the victories in war. No, it is when one side goes against the enemy with the gods' gift of a stronger morale that their adversaries, as a rule, cannot withstand them. I have noticed this point too, my friends, that in soldiering the people whose one aim is to keep alive usually find a wretched and dishonorable death, while the people who, realizing that death is the common lot of all men, make it their endeavour to die with honour, somehow seem more often to reach old age and to have a happier life when they are alive. These are facts which you too should realize (our situation demands it) and should show that you yourselves are brave men and should call on the rest to do likewise.” LifeWarDeathVictoryHonorBallsBraveryMoraleCowardive Book:The Persian Expedition Source: The Persian Expedition
“Ruling human beings does not belong among those tasks that are impossible if one does it with knowledge, we know that Cyrus at any rate was willingly obeyed as an exceptional ruler, Cyrus was worthy of wonder and excelled in ruling human beings.” Cyrus The Great Author:Xenophon