Herodotus Quotes
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I know that human happiness never remains long in the same place.
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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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In soft regions are born soft men.
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A man trusts his ears less than his eyes.
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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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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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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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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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The worst pain a man can have is to know much and be impotent to act.
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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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If someone were to put a proposition before men bidding them choose, after examination, the best customs in the world, each nation would certainly select its own.
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How much better a thing it is to be envied than to be pitied.
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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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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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A woman takes off her claim to respect along with her garments.
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Whatever comes from God is impossible for a man to turn back.
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When a woman removes her garment, she also removes the respect that is hers.
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Circumstances rule men; men do not rule circumstances.
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The most hateful human misfortune is for a wise man to have no influence.
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We are less convinced by what we hear than by what we see.
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One man envies the success in life of another, and hates him in secret; nor is he willing to give him good advice when he is consulted, except it be by some wonderful effort of good feeling, and there are, alas, few such men in the world. A real friend, on the other hand, exults in his friend's happiness, rejoices in all his joys, and is ready to afford him the best advice.
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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 deeds are usually wrought at great risks.
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Mens fortunes are on a wheel, which in its turning suffers not the same man to prosper for ever.