Herodotus Quotes

If a man insisted always on being serious, and never allowed himself a bit of fun and relaxation, he would go mad or become unstable without knowing it.

Men trust their ears less than their eyes.

The secret of success is that it is not the absence of failure, but the absence of envy.

Adversity has the effect of drawing out strength and qualities of a man that would have laid dormant in its absence.

In peace sons bury fathers, but war violates the order of nature, and fathers bury sons.

Egypt is the gift of the Nile.

Where wisdom is called for, force is of little use.

Very few things happen at the right time, and the rest do not happen at all. The conscientious historian will correct these defects.

It is better to be envied than pitied.

All of life is action and passion, and not to be involved in the actions and passions of your time is to risk having not really lived at all.

The most hateful grief of all human griefs is to have knowledge of a truth, but no power over the event.

Haste in every business brings failures.

If you have two loaves of bread, keep one to nourish the body, but sell the other to buy hyacinths for the soul.

Whatever comes from God is impossible for a man to turn back.

Historia (Inquiry); so that the actions of of people will not fade with time.

But this I know: if all mankind were to take their troubles to market with the idea of exchanging them, anyone seeing what his neighbor's troubles were like would be glad to go home with his own.

Circumstances rule men; men do not rule circumstances.

All men's gains are the fruit of venturing.

Envy is so natural to human kind, that it cannot but arise.

Of all possessions a friend is the most precious.

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.

Those who are guided by reason are generally successful in their plans; those who are rash and precipitate seldom enjoy the favour of the gods.

Let there be nothing untried; for nothing happens by itself, but men obtain all things by trying.

Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds. [The Motto Of The U.S. Postal Service]

Illness strikes men when they are exposed to change.

The period of a [Persian] boy's education is between the ages of five and twenty, and he is taught three things only: to ride, to use the bow, and to speak the truth.

The most hateful human misfortune is for a wise man to have no influence.

We are less convinced by what we hear than by what we see.

It [Egypt] has more wonders in it than any other country in the world and provides more works that defy description than any otherplace.

In soft regions are born soft men.

There is nothing more foolish, nothing more given to outrage than a useless mob.

I know that human happiness never remains long in the same place.

The Colchians, Ethiopians and Egyptians have thick lips, broad nose, woolly hair and they are burnt of skin.

Great deeds are usually wrought at great risks.

A man trusts his ears less than his eyes.

God does not suffer presumption in anyone but himself.

A multitude of rulers is not a good thing. Let there be one ruler, one king.

Far better it is to have a stout heart always and suffer one's share of evils, than to be ever fearing what may happen.

The worst part a man can suffer is to have insight into much and power over nothing.

Great things are won by great dangers.

It is the gods' custom to bring low all things of surpassing greatness.

To think well and to consent to obey someone giving good advice are the same thing.

A man calumniated is doubly injured -- first by him who utters the calumny, and then by him who believes it.

Remember that with her clothes a woman puts off her modesty.

History is marked by alternating movements across the imaginary line that separates East from West in Eurasia.

If one is sufficiently lavish with time, everything possible happens.

A woman takes off her claim to respect along with her garments.

The sun will not shine on any country that has borders with ours.

How much better a thing it is to be envied than to be pitied.

When life is so burdensome death has become a sought after refuge.