Pericles Quotes
It is right to endure with resignation what the gods send, and to face one's enemies with courage.
Thucydides. History of the Peloponnesian War. Translated by Rex Warner, Penguin Books, 1954, p. 162.
The South could not replenish their lost arms and munitions nor could they replace most of the men wounded, killed or taken prisoner. The Union could do both. Therefore as long as the Union army inflicted casualties, it mattered little who won which battle as long as the fighting was in the South. This critical strategic reality was never appreciated by the Union Generals who were generally reluctant to take large casualties. When Grant and Sherman finally were able to set the strategy of attrition in operation, the Union actually won most of the battles though he and Grant took very high casualties. The casualties of the Confederates were generally higher but they did not have to be for the Union to win. The Civil War was a strategic form of suicide. Ironically, at a few points the rebellion might have succeeded because of the incompetent and timid Union military leadership at the beginning of the war.
Pericles (/ˈpɛrɪkliːz/; Attic Greek: Περικλῆς, pronounced [pe.ri.klɛ̂ːs] in Classical Attic; c. 495 – 429 BC) was a Greek statesman and general of Athens during its golden age. Pericles was prominent and influential in Athenian politics, particularly between the Persian and the Peloponnesian Wars, and was acclaimed by Thucydides, a contemporary historian, as "the first citizen of Athens". He turned the Delian League into an Athenian empire and led his countrymen during the first two years of the Peloponnesian War. The period during which he led Athens, roughly from 461 to 429 BC, is sometimes known as the "Age of Pericles", but the period thus denoted can include times as early as the Persian Wars or as late as the following century.
