Zitate von Démosthenés
Démosthenés
Geburtstag: 384 v.Chr
Todesdatum: 322 v.Chr
Demosthenes war einer der bedeutendsten griechischen Redner. Nach dem Philokratesfrieden des Jahres 346 v. Chr. stieg er zum führenden Staatsmann Athens auf. Diese Position konnte er bis zur Harpalosaffäre 324 v. Chr. behaupten.
Zitate Démosthenés
„The easiest thing in the world is self-deceit; for every man believes what he wishes, though the reality is often different.“
— Démosthenés
[http://books.google.com/books?id=n4INAAAAYAAJ&q="the+easiest+thing+in+the+world+is+self-deceit+for+every+man+believes+what+he+wishes+though+the+reality+is+often+different"&pg=PA57#v=onepage Third Olynthiac], section 19 (349 BC), as translated by Charles Rann Kennedy (1852)
Variants:
A man is his own easiest dupe, for what he wishes to be true he generally believes to be true.
As quoted in The Routledge Dictionary of Quotations (1987) by Robert Andrews, p. 255
There is nothing easier than self-delusion. Since what man desires, is the first thing he believes.
„For a house, I take it, or a ship or anything of that sort must have its chief strength in its substructure; and so too in affairs of state the principles and the foundations must be truth and justice.“
— Démosthenés
Olytnhiac II, 10 [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0070%3Aspeech%3D2%3Asection%3D10]
„No man can tell what the future may bring forth, and small opportunities are often the beginning of great enterprises.“
— Démosthenés
Ad Leptinum 162, as quoted in Dictionary of Quotations (Classical) (1897) by Thomas Benfield Harbottle, p. 511
„Every advantage in the past is judged in the light of the final issue.“
— Démosthenés
Olynthiacs; Philippics (1930) as translated by James Herbert Vince, p. 11
„You cannot have a proud and chivalrous spirit if your conduct is mean and paltry; for whatever a man's actions are, such must be his spirit.“
— Démosthenés
As quoted in Journal of the History of Ideas Vol. 1 (1940), p. 472
„The readiest and surest way to get rid of censure, is to correct ourselves.“
— Démosthenés
As quoted in The World's Laconics: Or, The Best Thoughts of the Best Authors (1853) by Everard Berkeley, p. 34
„Whatever shall be to the advantage of all, may that prevail!“
— Démosthenés
Speech against Philip II of Macedon (351 BC), in Olynthiacs; Philippics (1930) as translated by James Herbert Vince, p. 99
„It is not possible to found a lasting power upon injustice, perjury, and treachery.“
— Démosthenés
Reported in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 455.
„The man who has received a benefit ought always to remember it, but he who has granted it ought to forget the fact at once.“
— Démosthenés
As quoted in Dictionary of foreign phrases and classical quotations (1908) by Hugh Percy Jones, p. 140
