Thinker · 8 quotes

Pericles quotes for UPSC

8 sourced quotes by Pericles on democracy & freedom, character & virtue, courage, peace, non-violence & conflict, time & change, with a use case for each in GS4, Essay and interviews.

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What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.

— PericlesAs quoted in Flicker to Flame : Living with Purpose, Meaning, and Happiness (2006) by Jeffrey Thompson Parker, p. 118

Use itEssay/Interview on legacy; true legacy lies in lives touched, not monuments built.

But the bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them, glory and danger alike, and yet notwithstanding go out to meet it.

— PericlesPericles' Funeral Oration

Use itGS4 on courage; true bravery is facing danger with full awareness, not recklessness.

CourageEssayGS4Life

Although only a few may originate a policy, we are all able to judge it.

— PericlesAs quoted in The Open Society and Its Enemies by Karl Popper (1966). Book II, chapter 40

Use itGS2 on citizen participation; policy made by few but judged by all in democracy.

Democracy & FreedomEssayGS2

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

— PericlesAs quoted in Homage to Greece (1943)

Use itEssay on freedom; liberty endures only where citizens have courage to defend it.

Democracy & Freedom CourageEssayGS2

We do not say that a man who takes no interest in politics is a man who minds his own business; we say that he has no business here at all.

— PericlesPericles commenting the participation of Athenian citizens in politics, as quoted in Models of Democracy (2006) by David Held, Stanford Univ

Use itEssay on civic duty; political apathy is a failure of citizenship.

Democracy & Freedom Duty & ResponsibilityEssayGS2

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.

— PericlesAs translated by Richard Crawley (1951)

Use itGS2 on deliberative democracy; debate in Parliament as a precondition of wise action.

Democracy & Freedom Governance & AdministrationEssayGS2GS4

Trees, though they are cut and lopped, grow up again quickly, but if men are destroyed, it is not easy to get them again.

— PericlesFrom Plutarch, Lives, Pericles, 33

Use itEssay on cost of war or human capital; lost lives can't regrow like trees.

Peace, Non-violence & Conflict Economy, Development & PovertyEssayGS3

Wait for that wisest of all counselors, Time.

— PericlesFrom Plutarch, Lives, Pericles, sec. 18. See also the following source provided by the "1000 Quotes Project": Plutarch. Plutarch’s Lives, Vo

Use itLife/GS4: counsel patience in decisions; let time reveal the right course.

Time & Change Truth & WisdomGS4Life