Herodotus - Histories

29 Sourced Quotes

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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.

Herodotus
Men trust their ears less than their eyes.

Herodotus
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

Herodotus
Great deeds are usually wrought at great risks.

Herodotus
In peace, children inter their parents; war violates the order of nature and causes parents to inter their children.

Herodotus
I am bound to tell what I am told, but not in every case to believe it.

Herodotus
When life is so burdensome, death has become for man a sought-after refuge.

Herodotus
If one were to order all mankind to choose the best set of rules in the world, each group would, after due consideration, choose its own customs; each group regards its own as being by far the best.

Herodotus
The king's might is greater than human, and his arm is very long.

Herodotus
For great wrongdoing there are great punishments from the gods.

Herodotus
The worst pain a man can have is to know much and be impotent to act.

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

Herodotus
[The Persians] are accustomed to deliberate about the most important matters when they are drunk.

Herodotus
This is the bitterest pain among men, to have much knowledge, but no power.

Herodotus
The man who has planned badly, if fortune is on his side, may have had a stroke of luck; but his plan was a bad one nonetheless.

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

Herodotus
The Lacedaemonians fought a memorable battle; they made it quite clear that they were the experts, and that they were fighting against amateurs.

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

Herodotus
It is sound planning that invariably earns us the outcome we want; without it, even the gods are unlikely to look with favour on our designs.

Herodotus
Not snow, no, nor rain, nor heat, nor night keeps them from accomplishing their appointed courses with all speed.

Herodotus
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.

Herodotus
In peace sons bury their fathers and in war fathers bury their sons. However, I suppose the god must have wanted this to happen.

Herodotus
Force has no place where there is need of skill.

Herodotus
Although he had plenty of troops he did not have many men.

Herodotus
In peace, children bury their parents; war violates the order of nature and causes parents to bury their children.

Herodotus
It is better by noble boldness to run the risk of being subject to half of the evils we anticipate than to remain in cowardly listlessness for fear of what might happen.

Herodotus
The most hateful torment for men is to have knowledge of everything but power over nothing.

Herodotus
I am going to talk at some length about Egypt, because it has very many remarkable features and has produced more monuments which beggar description than anywhere else in the world.

Herodotus
Circumstances rule men; men do not rule circumstances.

Herodotus