Polybius

“There is no more ready corrective of conduct than knowledge of the past.”

“How is it possible to expect that mankind will take advice when they will not so much as take warning?”

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

“For as a living creature is rendered wholly useless if deprived of its eyes, so if you take truth from History, what is left but an improfitable tale.”

“The two sources of all action are impulse and reason.”

“There are two roads to reformation for mankind—one through misfortunes of their own, the other through those of others.”

“We can get some idea of a whole from a part, but never knowledge or exact opinion.”

“The death which is with honor is preferable to the life which is with dishonor.”

“It is not histories, but the truth in history, that is of value.”

“He only may be called a historian, who can describe the result of the actions, and ascertain the causes that produced them.”

“All things are subject to change and decay.”

“History is in the truest sense an education and a training for political life.”

“For the object of history is not the same as that of tragedy.”

“Those who know how to win are much more numerous than those who know how to make proper use of their victories.”

“Of all things that are in the world, the most admirable is the structure of the Roman constitution.”

“The first and most important thing is to be on your guard against your friends.”