Eleftherios Venizelos

“A party should be founded not merely on numbers, but on moral principles, without which it can neither accomplish useful work nor inspire confidence.”

“Neutrality is not politics.”

“Greece expects you not merely to die for her, for that is little, indeed; she expects you to conquer. That is why each one of you, even in dying, should be possessed by one thought alone – how to conserve your strength to the last so that those who survive may conquer. And you will conquer, I am more than sure of this.”

“I had to decide [he said later] whether I would be a lawyer by profession and a revolutionary at intervals, or a revolutionary by profession and a lawyer at intervals.”

“The European policy is invariably the maintenance of the status quo, and you will do nothing for the subject races unless we, by taking initiative, make you realize that helping us against the Turks is the lesser of the evils.”

“England in all her wars has always gained one battle - the last!”

“One cannot kick against geography!”

“I do not wish to depreciate his great gifts and attainments in a country which unfortunately, if I may say so without offense, is suffering from a temporary lack of leading men."”

“When he is with me, I confess that his arguments are so convincing that I quickly begin to imagine that they are my own.”