Herodotus Quotes & Sayings

They [the Persians] are accustomed to deliberate on matters of the highest moment when warm with wine; but whatever they in this situation may determine is again proposed to them on the morrow, in their cooler moments, by the person in whose house they had before assembled. If at this time also it meet their approbation, it is executed; otherwise it is rejected. Whatever also they discuss when sober, is always a second time examined after they have been drinking. — Herodotus

It is the greatest and the tallest of trees that the gods bring low with bolts and thunder. For the gods love to thwart whatever is greater than the rest. They do not suffer pride in anyone but themselves. — Herodotus

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

Such was the number of the barbarians, that when they shot forth their arrows the sun would be darkened by their multitude." Dieneces, not at all frightened at these words, but making light of the Median numbers, answered "Our Trachinian friend brings us excellent tidings. If the Medes darken the sun, we shall have our fight in the shade. — Herodotus

Before a man dies, hold back and call him not happy but lucky. — Herodotus

My men have become women, but the women men. — Herodotus

Chances rule men and not men chances. — Herodotus

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

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

Where even a falsehood must be told, let it be told. — Herodotus

Love of honor is a very shady sort of possession. — 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 Persians are very fond of wine ... It is also their general practice to deliberate upon affairs of weight when they are drunk; and then in the morning, when they are sober, the decision to which they came the night before is put before them by the master of the house in which it was made; and if it is then approved they act on it; if not, they set it aside. Sometimes, however, they are sober at their first deliberations, but in this case they always reconsider the matter under the influence of wine. — Herodotus

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. — Herodotus

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

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

Seventy years I regard as the limit of the life of man. In these seventy years are contained, without reckoning intercalary months, twenty-five thousand and two hundred days. Add an intercalary month to every other year, that the seasons may come round at the right time, and there will be, besides the seventy years, thirty-five such months, making an addition of one thousand and fifty days. The whole number of the days contained in the seventy years will thus be twenty-six thousand two hundred and fifty, whereof not one but will produce events unlike the rest. Hence man is wholly accident. — Herodotus

In soft regions are born soft men. — Herodotus

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

Great deeds are usually wrought at great risks — Herodotus

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

The rule of the people has the fairest name of all, equality (isonomia), and does none of the things that a monarch does. The lot determines offices, power is held accountable, and deliberation is conducted in public. — Herodotus

And now for the vapor-bath: on a framework of three sticks, meeting at the top, they stretch pieces of woolen cloth, taking care to get the joints as perfect as they can, and inside this little tent they put a dish with red-hot stones in it. Then they take some hemp seed, creep into the tent, and throw the seed on to the hot stones. At once it begins to smoke, giving off a vapor unsurpassed by any vapor-bath one could find in Greece. The Sythians enjoy it so much that they howl with pleasure. This is their substitute for an ordinary bath in water, which they never use. — Herodotus

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. — 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

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

Hippocleides doesn't care. — Herodotus

It is the work of unjust men, we think, to carry off women at all; but once they have been carried off, to take seriously the avenging of them is the part of fools, as it is the part of sensible men to pay no heed to the matter: clearly, the women would not have been carried off had they no mind to be. — Herodotus

The saddest aspect of life is that there is no one on earth whose happiness is such that he won't sometimes wish he were dead rather than alive. — Herodotus

He advises them that tough lands produce tough peoples, so, if they wish to retain the empire he has enabled them so spectacularly to gain, they must not even think about removing themselves to some softer, enervating environment. — Herodotus

So much, then, for the fish. — Herodotus

We have two useless gods who never leave our island, but like to dwell in it constantly, Poverty and Helplessness. — Herodotus

In peace, sons bury their fathers. In war, fathers bury their sons. — Herodotus

The ears of men are lesser agents of belief than their eyes. — Herodotus

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

Circumstances rule men; men do not rule circumstances. — Herodotus

These Phoenicians who came with Cadmus and of whom the Gephyraeans were a part brought with them to Hellas, among many other kinds of learning, the alphabet, which had been unknown before this, I think, to the Greeks. As time went on the sound and the form of the letters were changed. At this time the Greeks who were settled around them were for the most part Ionians, and after being taught the letters by the Phoenicians, they used them with a few changes of form. In so doing, they gave to these characters the name of Phoenician, as was quite fair seeing that the Phoenicians had brought them into Greece.
(5-58-59) — Herodotus

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. — Herodotus

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

Death is a delightful hiding place for weary men. — Herodotus

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. — Herodotus

A man trusts his ears less than his eyes. — Herodotus

But I like not these great success of yours; for I know how jealous are the gods. — Herodotus

Great wealth can make a man no happier than moderate means, unless he has the luck to continue in propsperity to the end. Many very rich men have been unfortunate, and many with a modest competence have had good luck. The former are better off than the latter in two respects only, whereas the poor but lucky man has the advantage in many ways; for though the rich have the means to satisfy their appetites and to bear calamities, and the poor have not, the poor, if they are lucky, are more likely to keep clear of trouble, and will have besides the blessings of a sound body, health, freedom from trouble, fine children, and good looks.
Now if a man thus favoured died as he has lived, he will be just the one you are looking for: the only sort of person who deserves to be called happy. But mark this: until he is dead, keep the word "happy" in reserve. Till then, he is not happy, but only lucky. — Herodotus

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. — Herodotus

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

Good masters generally have bad slaves, and bad slaves have good masters. — Herodotus

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

The wooden wall alone should remain unconquered. — Herodotus

Of all men's miseries the bitterest is this: to know so much and to have control over nothing. — Herodotus

Men trust their ears less than their eyes. — Herodotus

When a woman removes her garment, she also removes the respect that is hers. — Herodotus

philosophical writers after his time: nor again must his simplicity of thought and occasional quaintness be reproduced in the form of archaisms of language; and — Herodotus

It is clear that not in one thing alone, but in many ways equality and freedom of speech are a good thing. — Herodotus

I shall therefore discourse equally of both, convinced that human happiness never continues long in one stay. — Herodotus

Men's fortunes are on a wheel, which in its turning suffers not the same man to prosper for ever. — Herodotus

I never yet feared those men who set a place apart in the middle of their cities where they gather to cheat one another and swear oaths which they break. — Herodotus

human prosperity never abides long in the same place, — Herodotus

Astyages had a daughter called Mandane, and he dreamed one night that she urinated in such enormous quantities that it filled his city and swamped the whole of Asia. — Herodotus

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

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 — Herodotus

The Scythians take kannabis seed, creep in under the felts, and throw it on the red-hot stones. It smolders and sends up such billows of steam-smoke that no Greek vapor bath can surpass it. The Scythians howl with joy in these vapor-baths, which serve them instead of bathing, for they never wash their bodies with water. — Herodotus

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. — Herodotus

For as the body grows old, so the wits grow old and become blind towards all things alike. — Herodotus

The worst pain a man can suffer: to have insight into much and power over nothing. — Herodotus

This I saw myself, and I found it greater than words can say. For if one should put together and reckon up all the buildings and all the great works produced by Hellenes, they would prove to be inferior in labour and expense to this labyrinth, though it is true that both the temple at Ephesos and that at Samos are works worthy of note. The pyramids also were greater than words can say, and each one of them is equal to many works of the Hellenes, great as they may be; but the labyrinth surpasses even the pyramids. — Herodotus

As the old saw says well: every end does not appear together with its beginning. — Herodotus

The trials of living and the pangs of disease make even the short span of life too long. — 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

It is the closest place to the stars on Earth. (Kalkan) — Herodotus

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. — Herodotus

He asked, 'Croesus, who told you to attack my land and meet me as an enemy instead of a friend?'
The King replied, 'It was caused by your good fate and my bad fate. It was the fault of the Greek gods, who with their arrogance, encouraged me to march onto your lands. Nobody is mad enough to choose war whilst there is peace. During times of peace, the sons bury their fathers, but in war it is the fathers who send their sons to the grave. — Herodotus

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

Passing over them [Egyptian kings], then, I will mention the person who reigned after them, whose name was Sesotris. [ ... ] Whenever he encountered a brave people who put up a fierce fight in defence of their autonomy, he erected pillars in their territory with an inscription recording his own name and country, and how he and his army has overcome them. However, when he took a place easily, without a fight, he had a message inscribed on the pillar in the same way as for the brave tribes, but he also added a picture of a woman's genitalia, to indicate that they where cowards. 2-[102] — Herodotus

Civil strife is as much a greater evil than a concerted war effort as war itself is worse than peace. — Herodotus

This is the sort of thing we should say by the fireside in the winter-time, as we lie on soft couches after a good meal, drinking sweet wine and crunching chickpeas: Of what country are you, and how old are you, good sir? And how old were you when the Mede came? — 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

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

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

Many exceedingly rich men are unhappy, but many middling circumstances are fortunate. — Herodotus

The ear is a less trustworthy witness than the eye. — Herodotus

Some men 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 — Herodotus

A general curiosity about the unknown sparked by the multicultural milieu in which I spent my formative years. There was a lot of unknown back then, too. I dare say it was easier to be an explorer then. — Herodotus

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

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. — Herodotus

These 'messengers' will not be hindered from accomplishing at their best speed the distance which they have to go, either by snow, or rain, or heat, or by the darkness of night. — Herodotus

must his simplicity of thought and occasional quaintness be reproduced in the form of archaisms of language; and that not only because the affectation of an archaic — Herodotus

When the Many are rulers, it cannot but be that, again, knavery is bred in the state; but now the knaves do not grow to hate one another - they become fast friends. For they combine together to maladminister the public concerns. This goes on until one man takes charge of affairs for the Many and puts a stop to the knaves. As a result of this, he wins the admiration of the Many, and, being so admired, lo! you have your despot again; — Herodotus

The hastening of any undertaking begets error, from which great losses are wont to come. — Herodotus

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

It is said that as many days as there are in the whole journey, so many are the men and horses that stand along the road, each horse and man at the interval of a days journey; and these are stayed neither by snow nor rain nor heat nor darkness from accomplishing their appointed course with all speed. — Herodotus

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

Call no man happy before he dies. — Herodotus

The gods love to punish whatever is greater than the rest. — Herodotus

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

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. — Herodotus

Unless a variety of opinions are laid before us, we have no opportunity of selection, but are bound of necessity to adopt the particular view which may have been brought forward. — Herodotus

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. — Herodotus

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