“The whole earth is the tomb of heroic men and their story is not given only on stone over their clay but abides everywhere without visible symbol woven into the stuff of other mens lives.”

“What you leave behind is not what is engraved on stone momuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.”

“We cultivate refinement without extravagance and knowledge without effeminacy; wealth we employ more for use than for show, and place the real disgrace of poverty not in owning to the fact but in declining the struggle against it. Our public men have, besides politics, their private affairs to attend to, and our ordinary citizens, though occupied with the pursuits of industry, are still fair judges of public matters; for, unlike any other nation, regarding him who takes no part in these duties not as unambitious but as useless, we Athenians are able to judge at all events if we cannot originate, and 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.”

“Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you. ”

“Time is the wisest counsellor of all”

“Freedom is the sure possession of those alone who have the courage to defend it.”

“[F]or grief is felt not so much for the want of what we have never known, as for the loss of that to which we have been long accustomed.”