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Might Makes Right: An Ancient Truth
May. 30th, 2007 08:06 am♠
“The strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must.”
-- Thucydides
That does get to the tragedy of life with beautiful succinctness and precision, doesn't it?
I came across the quote in Ms. Dowd's discussion of the neo-con Straussians this morning and their fascination for classical Greece. In spite of their screwiness over the Iraq War, perhaps overestimating American ruthlessness, some ancient truths really do keep their force.
___ ___ ___
[1730]
Looking back at the Thucydides quote, I see I twisted it in my memory, thinking that it said:
xXx
“The strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must.”
-- Thucydides
That does get to the tragedy of life with beautiful succinctness and precision, doesn't it?
I came across the quote in Ms. Dowd's discussion of the neo-con Straussians this morning and their fascination for classical Greece. In spite of their screwiness over the Iraq War, perhaps overestimating American ruthlessness, some ancient truths really do keep their force.
___ ___ ___
[1730]
Looking back at the Thucydides quote, I see I twisted it in my memory, thinking that it said:
The strong take what they can and the weak take what they must.I like mine better and think it is perhaps no less true, if more blunt. It has that nasty edge to it: the strong will take your ass, and the weak will take their cock. That sounds like life to me.
