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Thucydides Quotes
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Thucydides was an Athenian historian and general. His History of the Peloponnesian War recounts the fifth-century BC war between Sparta and Athens until the year 411 BC. Thucydides has been dubbed the father of "scientific history" by those who accept his claims to have applied strict standards of impartiality and evidence-gathering and analysis of cause and effect, without reference to intervention by the deities, as outlined in his introduction to his work.He also has been called the father of the school of political realism, which views the political behavior of individuals and the subsequent outcomes of relations between states as ultimately mediated by, and constructed upon, the emotions of fear and self-interest. His text is still studied at universities and military colleges worldwide. The Melian dialogue is regarded as a seminal work of international relations theory, while his version of Pericles' Funeral Oration is widely studied by political theorists, historians, and students of the classics.

More generally, Thucydides developed an understanding of human nature to explain behaviour in such crises as plagues, massacres, and civil war. Wikipedia  

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Thucydides: 76   quotes 85   likes

Thucydides Quotes

“I think the two things most opposed to good counsel are haste and passion; haste usually goes hand in hand with folly, passion with coarseness and narrowness of mind.”

Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War

Book III, 3.42-[1] (Speech of Diodotus..).
History of the Peloponnesian War, Book III

Thinking , Passion

“when night came on, the Macedonians and the barbarian crowd suddenly took fright in one of those mysterious panics to which great armies are liable”

Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War

Book IV, 4.125-[1]
History of the Peloponnesian War, Book IV

Night

“As for democracy, the men of sense among us knew what it was, and I perhaps as well as any, as I have more cause to complain of it; but there is nothing new to be said of a patent absurdity-meanwhile we did not think it safe to alter it under the pressure of your hostility.”

Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War

Book VI, 6.89-[6]
History of the Peloponnesian War, Book VI

Men , Hostility , Democracy , Thinking

“There is, however, no advantage in reflections on the past further than may be of service to the present. For the future we must provide by maintaining what the present gives us and redoubling our efforts; it is hereditary to us to win virtue as the fruit of labour, and you must not change the habit, even though you should have a slight advantage in wealth and resources; for it is not right that what was won in want should be lost in plenty.”

Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War

Book I, 1.123-[1]
History of the Peloponnesian War, Book I

Effort , Change , Past , Future

“Thus they toil on in trouble and danger all the days of their life, with little opportunity for enjoying, being ever engaged in getting: their only idea of a holiday is to do what the occasion demands, and to them laborious occupation is less of a misfortune than the peace of a quiet life. To describe their character in a word, one might truly say that they were born into the world to take no rest themselves and to give none to others.”

Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War

Book I, Chapter III
History of the Peloponnesian War, Book I

Peace , Holiday , World , Idea