110+ Herodotus Quotes On History, Democracy And Xerxes

Herodotus was an ancient Greek historian born in Halicarnassus in the 5th century BC. He is often referred to as the "Father of History" due to his seminal work, The Histories, which detailed the conquests of the Persian Empire by the Greeks. His writings also contain a wealth of information on the cultures and customs of the ancient world. Following is our collection on famous quotes by Herodotus on history, democracy, xerxes.

Top 10 Herodotus Quotes

1. 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.
2. Men trust their ears less than their eyes.
3. The secret of success is that it is not the absence of failure, but the absence of envy.
4. Of all possessions a friend is the most precious.
5. Adversity has the effect of drawing out strength and qualities of a man that would have laid dormant in its absence.
6. In peace sons bury fathers, but war violates the order of nature, and fathers bury sons.
7. Very few things happen at the right time, and the rest do not happen at all. The conscientious historian will correct these defects.
8. Egypt is the gift of the Nile.
9. It is better to be envied than pitied.
10. The worst part a man can suffer is to have insight into much and power over nothing.

Herodotus Image Quotes

Of all possessions a friend is the most precious. — Herodotus

Herodotus Short Quotes

• All men's gains are the fruit of venturing.
• Historia (Inquiry); so that the actions of of people will not fade with time.
• The only good is knowledge, and the only evil is ignorance.
• The most hateful human misfortune is for a wise man to have no influence.
• The destiny of man is in his own soul
• Great deeds are usually wrought at great risks.
• Death is a delightful hiding place for weary men.
• Illness strikes men when they are exposed to change.
• I know that human happiness never remains long in the same place.
• God does not suffer presumption in anyone but himself.

Herodotus Quotes About War

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

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

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

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

Herodotus Quotes About Rain

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

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

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

Herodotus Quotes About Rest

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

Do you see how the god always hurls his bolts at the greatest houses and the tallest trees. For he is wont to thwart whatever is greater than the rest. — Herodotus

Herodotus Famous Quotes And Sayings

Of all possessions a friend is the most precious. — Herodotus

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

Bowmen bend their bows when they wish to shoot: unbrace them when the shooting is over. Were they kept always strung they would break and fail the archer in time of need. So it is with men. If they give themselves constantly to serious work, and never indulge awhile in pastime or sport, they lose their senses and become mad. — Herodotus

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. — Herodotus

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

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

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

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

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

Knowledge may give weight, but accomplishments give lustre, and many more people see than weigh. — Herodotus

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

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

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

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

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

One should always look to the end of everything, how it will finally come out. For the god has shown blessedness to many only to overturn them utterly in the end. — 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

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

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

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

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

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

The wooden wall alone should remain unconquered. — Herodotus

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

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

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. — Herodotus

In soft regions are born soft men. — Herodotus

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

Soft men tend to be born from soft countries. — Herodotus

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

Love of honor is a very shady sort of possession. — Herodotus

It is a law of nature that fainthearted men should be the fruit of luxurious countries, for we never find that the same soil produces delicacies and heroes. — Herodotus

For if one should propose to all men a choice, bidding them select the best customs from all the customs that there are, each race of men, after examining them all, would select those of his own people; thus all think that their own customs are by far the best — Herodotus

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

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

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

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

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

Dreams in general take their rise from those incidents which have most occupied the thoughts during the day. — Herodotus

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

A real friend ... exults in his friend’s happiness, rejoices in all his joys, and is ready to afford him the best advice. — Herodotus

It's impossible for someone who is human to have all good things together, just as there is no single country able to provide all good things for itself. — Herodotus

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

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

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

Haste in every business brings failures. — 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

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

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

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

Good masters generally have bad slaves, and bad slaves have good masters. — 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 Colchians, Ethiopians and Egyptians have thick lips, broad nose, woolly hair and they are burnt of skin. — Herodotus

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

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

Great things are won by great dangers. — Herodotus

How can a monarchy be a suitable thing, which allows a man to do as he pleases with none to hold him to account. And even if you were to take the best man on earth, and put him into a monarchy, you put outside him the thoughts that usually guide him. — Herodotus

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

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

A man trusts his ears less than his eyes. — 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

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

the Egyptians were the first to discover the solar year, and to portion out its course into twelve parts both the space of time and the seasons which they delimit. It was observation of the course of the stars which led them to adopt this divisionIt is also the Egyptians who first bought into use the names of the twelve gods, which the Greeks adopted from them — Herodotus

He is the best man who, when making his plans, fears and reflects on everything that can happen to him, but in the moment of action is bold. — 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

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

Tell Greece that her spring has been taken out of her year. — 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

Chances rule men and not men chances. — Herodotus

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. — Herodotus

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

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

Life Lessons by Herodotus

1. Herodotus taught that it is important to be open-minded and tolerant of other cultures and beliefs. He believed that by understanding the past and learning from it, we can create a better future.
2. Herodotus also emphasized the importance of being inquisitive and questioning the status quo. He encouraged people to think critically and to seek out knowledge and understanding.
3. Finally, Herodotus taught that it is important to be humble and recognize that no one person or culture has all the answers. He believed in the power of collaboration and cooperation to solve problems and create a better world.