66 Notable Quotes By Herodotus For Chroniclers
Of all men’s miseries the bitterest is this: to know so much and to have control over nothing.
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.
If a man insisted on always 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.
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
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.
After all, no one is stupid enough to prefer war to peace; in peace sons bury their fathers and in war fathers bury their sons.
The most hateful grief of all human griefs is this, to have knowledge of the truth but no power over the event.
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.
The worst pain a man can suffer: to have insight into much and power over nothing.
Happiness is not fame or riches or heroic virtues, but a state that will inspire posterity to think in reflecting upon our life, that it was the life they would wish to live.
In peace, children inter their parents; war violates the order of nature and causes parents to inter their children.
Force has no place where there is need of skill
Historia (Inquiry); so that the actions of of people will not fade with time.
Now it happened that this Candaules was in love with his own wife; and not only so, but thought her the fairest woman in the whole world. This fancy had strange consequences.
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.
Great deeds are usually wrought at great risks
Circumstances rule men; men do not rule circumstances.
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.
Hippocleides doesn't care.
No one is so senseless as to choose of his own will war rather than peace, since in peace the sons bury their fathers, but in war the fathers bury their sons.
Now stop your dancing; you wouldn't come out and dance when I played to you.
It is better by noble boldness to run the risk of being subject to half the evils we anticipate than to remain in cowardly listlessness for fear of what might happen.
Of all men's miseries the bitterest is this: to know so much and to have control over nothing.
They made it plain to everyone, however, and above all to the king himself, that although he had plenty of troops, he did not have many men.
God does not suffer presumption in anyone but himself.
Great things are won by great dangers.
Death is a delightful hiding place for weary men.
There is nothing more foolish, nothing more given to outrage than a useless mob.
The most hateful human misfortune is for a wise man to have no influence.