a city is better off with bad laws, so long as they remain … - Thucydides

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a city is better off with bad laws, so long as they remain fixed, than with good laws that are constantly being altered, that lack of learning combined with sound common sense is more helpful than the kind of cleverness that gets out of hand, and that as a general rule states are better governed by the man in the street than by intellectuals.

Thucydides

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About Thucydides

Thucydides (or Thoukydides)(c. 472 BC – c. 400 BC) was an ancient Greek historian, author of the History of the Peloponnesian War, which recounts the 5th century BC war between Sparta and Athens. This work is widely regarded a classic and represents the first work of its kind.

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Native Name: Θουκυδίδης

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[T]hey possess most gold and silver, by which war, like everything else, flourishes.

The longer a war lasts, the more things tend to depend on accidents. Neither you nor we can see into them: We have to abide their outcome in the dark.

When one is deprived of ones liberty, one is right in blaming not so much the man who puts the shackles on as the one who had the power to prevent him, but did not use it.

a city is better off with bad laws, so long as they remain fixed, than with good laws that are constantly being altered, that lack of learning combin… - Thucydides

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