Herodotus Quotes
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For of those cities that were great in earlier times, most of them have now become small, while those which were great in my time were small formerly.
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In peace sons bury fathers, but war violates the order of nature, and fathers bury sons.
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The worst pain a man can have is to know much and be impotent to act.
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Egypt is the gift of the Nile.
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In soft regions are born soft men.
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Some give up their designs when they have almost reached the goal; while others, on the contrary, obtain a victory by exerting, at the last moment, more vigorous efforts than ever before.
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I know that human happiness never remains long in the same place.
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But if you know that you are a man too, and that even such are those that rule, learn this first of all: that all human affairs are a wheel which, as it turns, does not allow the same men always to be fortunate.
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Those who are skilled in archery bend their bow only when they are preparing to use it; when they do not require it, they allow it to remain unbent, for otherwise it would remain unserviceable when the time for using it arrived. So it is with man. If he were to devote himself unceasingly to a dull round of business, without breaking the monotony by cheerful amusements, he would fall imperceptibly into idiocy, or be struck by paralysis.
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Very few things happen at the right time, and the rest do not happen at all. The conscientious historian will correct these defects.
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For as the body grows old, so the wits grow old and become blind towards all things alike.
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A man trusts his ears less than his eyes.
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A real friend ... exults in his friends happiness, rejoices in all his joys, and is ready to afford him the best advice.
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How much better a thing it is to be envied than to be pitied.
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The man of affluence is not in fact more happy than the possessor of a bare competency, unless, in addition to his wealth, the end of his life be fortunate. We often see misery dwelling in the midst of splendour, whilst real happiness is found in humbler stations.
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A woman takes off her claim to respect along with her garments.
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History is marked by alternating movements across the imaginary line that separates East from West in Eurasia.
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If an important decision is to be made, they the Persians discuss the question when they are drunk, and the following day the master of the house where the discussion was held submits their decision for reconsideration when they are sober. If they still approve it, it is adopted; if not, it is abandoned. Conversely, any decision they make when they are sober, is reconsidered afterwards when they are drunk.
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If anyone, no matter who, were given the opportunity of choosing from amongst all the nations in the world the set of beliefs which he thought best, he would inevitably—after careful considerations of their relative merits—choose that of his own country. Everyone without exception believes his own native customs, and the religion he was brought up in, to be the best.
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It is a law of nature that fainthearted men should be the fruit of luxurious countries, for we never find that the same soil produces delicacies and heroes.
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Calumny is a monstrous vice: for, where parties indulge in it, there are always two that are actively engaged in doing wrong, and one who is subject to injury. The calumniator inflicts wrong by slandering the absent; he who gives credit to the calumny before he has investigated the truth is equally implicated. The person traduced is doubly injured--first by him who propagates, and secondly by him who credits the calumny.
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Circumstances rule men; men do not rule circumstances.
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Although extraordinary valor was displayed by the entire corps of Spartans and Thespians, yet bravest of all was declared the Spartan Dienekes. It is said that on the eve of battle, he was told by a native of Trachis that the Persian archers were so numerous that, their arrows would block out the sun. Dienekes, however, undaunted by this prospect, remarked with a laugh, 'Good. Then we will fight in the shade.
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Great things are won by great dangers.