340+ (BEST) Historical Herodotus Quotes: Herodotus Famous Quotes
Herodotus Famous Quotes
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
Haste in every business brings failures.- Herodotus
“In peace, sons bury their fathers. In war, fathers bury their sons.”- 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.
It is a general rule that, in the midst of prosperity, men are most ready to believe in misfortune, and happy confidence has often been followed by utter despair.-Herodotus.
Fate leads the willing and drags along the unwilling.-Herodotus.
Come what may, life is short and fate is long.-Herodotus
In peace, sons bury their fathers; in war fathers bury their sons – Herodotus
“The man who lives with himself is better off than he who does not.”- Herodotus
“Who can spare the time to think about things that are beyond the present?”- Herodotus
“What is noble? A good eye, a strong hand, a sound breast, a penetrating mind, and an eloquent tongue; yet even these are not all that are needed in war.”-Herodotus
Adversity has the effect of drawing out the strength and qualities of a man that would have laid dormant in its absence. -Herodotus
“With great men, it is a very different thing. They are always surrounded by flatterers and false flatterers, who admire them and flatter them.”-Herodotus
“The trial of strength is the most useful in life, which ought to be used in all cases; this trial should be used for all that is valuable. ” -Herodotus
“It is better to die in battle than to live under the yoke of slavery.”-Herodotus
“I have never seen a city destroyed because the men of it were not valiant, but have, on the contrary, often beheld cities ruined for the want of valour in the men.”-Herodotus
“In olden times there was much more distinction between kings and their subjects than there is now. Kings then were looked upon as divine beings whose friendship was a gift from heaven.”-Herodotus
“A well-ordered state can endure no feeble or unfit man in it. Nobility is a gift of nature.”-Herodotus
“No man can do anything great unless he has a very short memory.”-Herodotus
“Man is the only animal that laughs and weeps. There are some who laugh, but they do not know why they are laughing; and there are others who weep, but they do not know why they are weeping.”-Herodotus
The stronger men are the crueler they become. -Herodotus
“The noble and most highly educated people have the least ability to appreciate the real worth of their own institutions.”-Herodotus
“One generation plants its yoke upon the next until, as a result of habit, it is not perceived.” -Herodotus
“Battles are won by men who are ready when they meet with sudden surprises.”-Herodotus
The cause of great events is always hidden. -Herodotus
Rivalry for precedence, which leads men to sacrifice themselves for their country, while it is a brave and noble impulse, frequently brings disaster, since in such contests the winner is sometimes the less worthy or the less fit. -Herodotus
The danger is greater in proportion as the way is longer.- Herodotus
“A city in order to be happy needs to be free, and in order to be free needs laws.” -Herodotus
“It is better for the general not to lead than to lead badly.” -Herodotus
“In peace sons bury their fathers; in war fathers bury their sons.” – Herodotus
“A man will sooner forget the death of his father than the loss of his patrimony.” -Herodotus
“A democracy is the most shameless thing in the world, for it is a form of government that gives every man license to utter what he thinks as truth without so much as fearing that anyone will call him to account for anything whatsoever.” – Herodotus
“The secret of success is to be ready when your opportunity comes.” -Herodotus
“The first and best victory is to conquer self.” -Herodotus
“A man’s worth consists in what he is, not in what he has.” -Herodotus
“Only those who have been tested in great enterprises can be considered wise.” -Herodotus
Liberty is a thing that must be continually renewed with the blood of patriots and tyrants. – Herodotus
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
The end of everything is to be happy. -Herodotus
“A man’s greatest treasure is to live with courage, work with labor, and stay with honor.” – Herodotus
“The injury we do and the benefits we confer will be treated by posterity exactly as if they had been directed to it by us in our own persons.” -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
“There are only two kinds of government: a democratic government led by people with the ability to govern, and an oligarchic government by people without such ability.” -Herodotus
“It is impossible to live in harmony with those whose minds do not agree with yours.” -Herodotus
“The greatest act of courage is in choosing the right side in the end.”-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
“As long as the soil carries its seed into our hands, we must labor for it as if we could not live unless we did so.” -Herodotus
“The man who will not work shall not eat.” -Herodotus
And this is the greatest of all blessings, that man is given by nature a portion of his own freedom”-Herodotus
“It is better to perish in defense of freedom than to live enslaved. I prefer death to slavery ” -Herodotus
Freedom is the most important thing in life. -Herodotus
“The respect of friend and foe is what a nation needs most.” -Herodotus
If anyone uses violence against us, we must use violence against him; if anyone does not submit to us, we should be not submit to him.-Herodotus
The man who will not work shall not eat.-Herodotus
“If one is sufficiently lavish with time, everything possible happens.”-Herodotus
“Knowledge is the most important thing in life.”-Herodotus
“If someone does not wish to learn what I say, that is his own concern.”-Herodotus
If someone doesn’t want to be a philosopher, that doesn’t matter; he should do something else.-Herodotus
“…distrust the people who cast their eyes beyond their own lives…they talk a great deal and little understand.”-Herodotus
Funny Herodotus Quotes
“I am convinced that everything that is written comes from God.”-Herodotus
“A great many people have told me that I have no knowledge.”-Herodotus
“There is nothing that does not come to pass sooner or later…the only thing we must do is put ourselves in harmony with the time in which we live.”-Herodotus
“He worst pain a man can suffer: to have insight into much and power over nothing.”-Herodotus
“The beginning of wisdom is the definition of terms.”-Herodotus
“Citizenship is the most powerful antidote to violence.”-Herodotus, Histories, 8:142
“The secret to happiness is freedom… And the secret to freedom is courage.”-Herodotus
“The most hateful of all possessions are riches duly obtained by shameful means. -Herodotus
“The most wise man is the one who can use the least words.”-Herodotus
“Cleverness is not knowledge and wisdom.”-Herodotus
“The man who does not seek knowledge will be ignorant for his whole life.”-Herodotus
“The principle of equality has always been a false principle in practice.”-Herodotus
“In the right policy a wise man must sometimes march against his country.”-Herodotus
“While they live, men love their wives; after they are dead the love goes.”-Herodotus
“It is better to have a knowledge of geometry than of medicine.”-Herodotus
“No girl should marry until she knows how to cook, clean, and care for a child.”-Hermotus
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.-Herodotus
“In the first place a state should be small and compact; for all cities are more or less at war with one another . “-Herodotus
“No one can foresee in an emergency what the best course is.”-Herodotus
“I have never seen a city destroyed because the men of it were not valiant, but have, on the contrary, often beheld cities ruined for the want of valor in their men.-Herodotus
“A man’s worth consists in what he is, not in what he has.”-Herodotus
“The most useful thing in the world is to live on another man’s leftovers.”-Herodotus
“The greatest of virtues is to be without a vice”.-Herodotus
“When a man has reached the point of taking delight in any act whatever, he has already gone too far.-Herodotus
“A man’s greatest treasure is to live with courage, work with labor, and stay with honor.” -Herodotus
“He who has the quickest wit is least likely to keep it.”-Herodotus
“The end of everything is to be happy.”-Herodotus
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.-Herodotus
The more sand has escaped from the hour glass of our life, the clearer we should see through it.-Herodotus
“When a man can do what he wants to do and when he cannot do what he wants to do, then it is time for him to die.”-Herodotus
Where everyone thinks alike, no one thinks very much.-Herodotus
“The secret of happiness is freedom; and the secret of freedom, courage. -Herodotus
“The secret of happiness is freedom; and the secret of freedom, courage.”-Herodotus
“One should fear nothing except being forgotten.”-Herodotus
“It is not for us to inquire how the world was made; we are looked upon as impious by those who know how it was made.”-Herodotus
Travels With Herodotus Quotes
“Adversity has the effect of drawing out strength and qualities of a man that would have laid dormant in its absence.”-Herodotus
“For a man to be happy it is not necessary that he should live as a king, but he should live as a freeman.”-Herodotus
“The people are like the horse: it takes two to make a partnership. The one who draws the cart should not abuse his privilege.” -Herodotus
“Everything living partakes of reason, and that is what distinguishes us from the things that are not living.”-Herodotus
“The strength of the man who has carefully observed the nature of things is his greatest treasure; while a man who never observes the nature of things is the most helpless of all.”-Herodotus
“I am convinced that everything what is written comes from God.”-Herodotus
“The secret to happiness is freedom, and the secret to freedom is courage.”-Herodotus
“In military matters nothing can be called certain except death, and even it admits of delay. “-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 greatest wealth is to live content with little, for there is never want where the mind is satisfied.”-Herodotus
“The most hateful of all possessions are riches duly obtained by shameful means.”-Herodotus
The greatest of human accomplishments is to be well connected in the right way.-Herodotus
The most important thing in life is to establish contact with reality at the deepest possible level.-Herodotus
Two things present a difficulty to us: seeing before we have heard, and hearing before we have seen.-Herodotus
The justice of Zeus is like the rain that cannot be denied. It comes in due season, and no man can tell whence it comes or whither it goes.-Herodotus
“Better an idle youth than a busy old age.”-Herodotus
“When your neighbor states the sky is green you better not believe him.”-Herodotus
“You must always make known to your wife how much you love her and what a blessing it is to have her for your wife.”-Herodotus
“During my life I have never seen a man who was held in greater veneration than this king.”-Herodotus
“A man, as the nature of the gods is, cannot live without honor.”-Herodotus
“It is easier to make a reputation than to keep it.”-Herodotus
“I cannot tell who is the most unfortunate part of a man’s life. By no means, however, can it be the moment of his birth; for the very heavens look down upon us as children.” -Herodotus
“It is absurd to think that a man should long for death or be afraid of it, because death comes after him wherever he may be and will not let him escape. He will not let him live, either, and even if he himself should make his escape it is of no importance; for the death he seeks comes to him, and life itself ends in its own course.” -Herodotus
“It is difficult to know the measure of a man’s virtue. He who has an excessive share of virtue must needs be over-righteous. I am not one who can measure such matters.”-Herodotus
The Histories Herodotus Quotes
“The greatest wealth is to live content with little, for there is never want where the mind is satisfied.”-Herodotus
“The first reward for a good life is being able to live another.”-Herodotus
“Virtue does not come into existence by nature but must be cultivated.”-Herodotus
“It takes a great deal of history to produce a little literature.”-Herodotus
“An older man is one who more accurately knows what is good for him.”-Herodotus
“The best of all possessions is to live as a friend with those about you.-Herodotus
“In our age wisdom is not valued.”-Herodotus
“The worst kind of folly is to have thought that we alone were the bearers of the torch.”-Herodotus
“No one will ever teach me anything, and no one will ever learn from me.”-Herodotus
“The man who runs away is the best trained; he runs away from his own troubles, not from those of others.”-Herodotus
“A man has never more to fear from the gods than when he fears losing honor.”-Herodotus
“The royal throne can never be successful either in war or in peace, but the more removed from it a man is and the less he meddles with it the better for himself and his country.”-Herodotus
“There is nothing that we so much need as people who, noticing what we do amiss, shall point out to us what we do right.”-Herodotus
“It is better to have men ask how you did a thing than to tell them how you did it. The only thing that lies between these two is truthfulness.”-Herodotus
“It is better to be honest than in command of a thousand soldiers.”-Herodotus
“The art of being strong lies in the moderation and moderation alone of our desires.”-Herodotus
“A man who has no faults has nothing to do, for the very being of man proves him to be flawed; but a man who has no errors has nothing to do either, because he cannot err. No man, therefore, can be blameless or blamelessly free from error.”-Herodotus
“I have observed that men who are thought to be good when they are young turn out to be better when they are old than those who were thought to be good when they were young. The best of them is reserved for the last days of his life.”-Herodotus
“The beginning and end of wisdom is to know the difference between what can and what cannot be done. Human affairs are full of what cannot.”-Herodotus
“It is the characteristic of a man who has attained to old age that he can be most altered by good fortune, but least by evil.”-Herodotus
Best Herodotus Quotes
“In old age the remembrance of past pleasures becomes sweeter, and pleasures that are expected to come in the future seem more delightful than those already enjoyed. All this seems to be because the soul accustoms itself to its natural condition.”-Herodotus
“It is not the man who has much but the man who knows how to use it wisely.”-Herodotus
“The things which have been are better than those which are to be, and those which are to be are better than those which have been.” -Herodotus
“We must live simply so as not to become poor.”-Herodotus
“Inhaling, inhaling, breathe in until you can breathe no more. Inhaling, inhaling, breathe out until you can breathe no more.”-Herodotus
“Live as free men, but fear not to be free.” -Herodotus
“The greatest wealth is to live content with little, for there is never want where the mind is satisfied.”-Herodotus
“A man who is not surrounded by enough good advisers will be no less in need of them than yourself.”-Herodotus
“We say that the best of all wealth is health, but I know not a better thing than to cherish wisdom.”-Herodotus
“A wise man has no fear of what lies in the future but prepares himself for it.”-Herodotus
“This life and this death are the greatest of all bonds which tie us to one another. Live so that you may know them both, and be sure that to live is to die.” -Herodotus
“Fear of death leads a man gently down the road of life, but you should be ashamed to spend your days in fear of what is coming after death.”-Herodotus
“We must face every event without flinching.”-Herodotus
“What is especially hideous in death is its suddenness.”-Herodotus
“The greatest wealth is to live content with little, for there is never want where the mind is satisfied.”-Herodotus
“Have one friend and be a friend to all.”-Herodotus
“A man who has no faults has nothing to do, for the very being of man proves him to be flawed; but a man who has no errors has nothing to do either, because he cannot err. No man, therefore, can be blameless or blamelessly free from error. -Herodotus
“It is not the man who has much but the man who knows how to use it wisely.”-Herodotus
“A great heart knows no fear.”-Herodotus
“If you can’t trust your neighbors then you had better live on a desert island.”-Herodotus
“The eye that never weeps cannot see weeping.”-Herodotus
Herodotus Quotes on History
“Things which are memorable appear most worthy of narration. I have therefore determined to write a history, the result being a record which is more complete than any that has preceded it. It is my object to set forth those facts which an unbiased observer might note down.”-Herodotus
“Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.”-(The motto on U.S. Postal Service trucks.-Herodotus)
“Even the walls have ears.”-Herodotus
“The secret things belong to the gods, but those that are revealed belong to us and our children forever, to the end of time.”-Herodotus
“The one who does wrong in ignorance and without ill will would never bring his soul into unrest if he were to come on all wrongdoing that has been done.”-Herodotus
“Each man is his own most severe judge.”-Herodotus
“There is no greater misfortune than to be in the wrong before you have learned the lesson of what is right.”-Herodotus
“They are not my deeds which I have done nor wish to do, but those which I have been forced to do by my circumstances.”-Herodotus
“A man has never more to fear from the gods than when he fears losing honor.”-Herodotus
“The first reward for a good life is being able to live another. -Herodotus
“No one can live long without learning the difference between good and ill fortune.”-Herodotus
“When you have no other way out, lie.”-Herodotus
“The great man is he who knows when to stop and when to go on.”-Herodotus
“It is difficult to know the measure of a man’s virtue. He who has an excessive share of virtue must needs be overrighteous. I am not one who can measure such matters.”-Herodotus
“When one is convinced that he is destined for misfortune, the easiest way out of misfortune is to find money enough to buy it off?”-Herodotus
“The best of all blessings in human life, however, is for a man to leave behind him children who are his image and at the same time good citizens; it is by this means that a man becomes immortal in the best sense.”-Herodotus
History is not merely a record of wars. It is a record of social events and the development of nations.
A historian is an investigator of past events and an advisor to future generations.
A good leader can get efficient service from poor troops, while on the opposite a poor leader can demoralize good troops.
The outcome of a war depends on what the rivals have been preparing during the peace that precedes it .
Herodotus Histories Quotes
The Colchians, Ethiopians, and Egyptians have thick lips, broad nose, woolly hair and they are burnt of skin.”-Herodotus
“All we have comes from the earth and by it we live.”-Herodotus
“Law does not prevent crimes, but compulsion does.”-Herodotus
“A poor man’s appetite is always satisfied with meat, but a rich man’s appetite is never satisfied.”-Herodotus
“No matter how much men seem to be in advance of where they are, they will eventually catch up to it.”-Herodotus
“Egypt is the gift of the Nile.”-Herodotus
“There is nothing that can better solve a dispute than having both parties tell their stories.”-Herodotus
“Every tribe, every race, despite how they come to believe it is true, has a sort of cult or religious practice that is completely false.”-Herodotus
“A prudent man keeps his own counsel.”-Herodotus
“I am not an orator.”-Herodotus
“All the arts are of use, but we must have wisdom to apply them.”-Herodotus
“Very few men are fit to be leaders.”-Herodotus
“There is a strong tradition in Egypt that no man will see old age without losing his eyesight and becoming blind.”-Herodotus
“If you spend your time well, you will be happy, but if you are wasted time, it will not be happy.”-Herodotus
“Man is a creature who is able to hear many things and sees more than anyone in the world.” -Herodotus
“The best of all treasures is a friend who is near.”-Herodotus
“No man ever becomes good by doing evil.”-Herodotus
“The soul of a coward dies before death.”-Herodotus
“The one who does not punish crime encourages it.”-Herodotus
“Our life is like the exhalation of the blood: we get it from our parents, but we give it to our children.”-Herodotus
“What can unite men better than the threat of danger?”-Herodotus
Herodotus Quotes On Xerxes
“Xerxes is wiser and better than all the other kings that have gone before him.”
“Some say that Xerxes has a temple built for him in Greece; I do not believe that, but I do believe he has a tomb built for him.”
“The best of all treasures is a friend who is near.”
“Xerxes was much more intelligent than any of the other kings who have gone before him.”
“A prudent man keeps his own counsel.”
“There is nothing that can better solve a dispute than having both parties tell their stories.”
“The one who does not punish crime encourages it.”
“Three things are needed for safety: to be well-born, to have money and to have good friends.”
“The Persians do not fire their arrows when they perceive you; they do it when they perceive that you perceive them doing so.”
“The greatest advantage a person can have over his enemy is to be superior to him in dignity.”
“All the arts are of use, but we must have wisdom to apply them.”
“Not even Greeks are as good as the Persians at war; yet they cannot beat them in anything else.”
“A wise man can easily see when a man has no honor, for he will spend his money on women and food instead of helping the needy.”
Herodotus Quotes Battle of Thermopylae
“The end of this battle is still unclear; the people who stayed alive and set out to tell what happened are lying, and so is he who listened to them.”
“The secret things belong to the gods, but those that are revealed belong to us and our children forever, to the end of time.”
“No matter how much men seem to be in advance of where they are, they will eventually catch up to it.”
“The best of all treasures is a friend who is near.”
“The one who does wrong in ignorance and without ill will would never bring his soul into unrest if he were to come on all wrongdoing that has been done.”
“When you have no other way out, lie.”
“There is no greater misfortune than to be in the wrong before you have learned the lesson of what is right.”
“The eye that never weeps cannot see weeping.”
“A prudent man keeps his own counsel.”
“Man is a creature who is able to hear many things and sees more than anyone in the world.”
“The outcome of a war depends on what the rivals have been preparing during the peace that precedes it.”
“The soul of a coward dies before death.”
“The one who does not punish crime encourages it.”
Herodotus Quotes Battle of Marathon
“A great heart knows no fear.”
“The Spartans are people who say the same thing each day and maintain it against all attacks.”
“The Persian generalship is something that has never been seen before this time, and I do not know of any among the Greeks capable of matching it.”
“As soon as they knew that we had come up to them, they began to pour down a wave of arrows against us; the majority had been shot by themselves but were still red hot.”
“There is no greater misfortune than to be in the wrong before you have learned the lesson of what is right.”
“I do not say it is impossible for a bad man to die a good death; but I never saw it.”
“A great heart knows no fear.”
“The greater the number of men, the more they have valor.”
“Wealth is the sinews of war.”
“Greeks are an argumentative people; they argue about everything.”
“An empty stomach makes an ill temper with everyone.”
“War is a bad thing for even the victors, for a defeated man hates himself, and his enemy more than ever.”
“A prudent man keeps his own counsel.”
Herodotus Quotes on Democracy
“Democracy is the best kind of government that you can imagine, except for all those other forms of government.”
“The one who does not punish crime encourages it.”
“What can unite men better than the threat of danger?”
“Those have been badly brought up who turned their backs on the enemy.”
“In democracies, men are very good; they do not want to take risks in order to do what they think right, but they are open to bribes.”
“All the arts are of use, but we must have wisdom to apply them.”
“In democracies citizens feel as though they are equal; yet the ones who are older and wiser can do things that the others cannot do.”
“The greatest advantage a person can have over his enemy is to be superior to him in dignity.”
“If you spend your time well, you will be happy, but if you are wasted time, it will not be happy.”
“Democracy is not based on equality; it is based on the belief that you are equal to your fellow citizen.”
“He who is willing to be flogged by both the bad and the good is well trained in feeling.”
“When you have no other way out, lie.”
“Elites love to cultivate and value experience; but they do not use it for anything important.”
“The best of all treasures is a friend who is near.”
“The one who does wrong in ignorance and without ill will would never bring his soul into unrest if he were to come on all wrongdoing that has been done.”
“The Persians take a long time about all their plans; they prepare them slowly.”
“A wise man can easily see when a man has no honor, for he will spend his money on women and food instead of helping the needy.”
Greek Philosopher Herodotus Quotes
“There is no better life than philosophy.”
“It is better to be a poor man working for the good of his country than a rich man who does nothing.”
“You must believe that all men are created equal and that they have inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
“The confidence a man has in himself is the most sacred thing he can have.”
“A nation without a common language cannot even exist.”
“[A wise man] will never use violence to subdue those who do not use it first.”
“Any man who has not been thoroughly well trained before he is twenty is not fit to be taught at all.”
“A true man must know his own strength and weakness.”
“A strong mind cannot tolerate long ignorance of self.”
Herodotus Quotes on the First Persian Empire
“It was not those Asians who made war, but those who learned how to make it.”
“But Xerxes had no idea of what the Greeks were going to do; he thought that they would come into battle against him as if they were enemies and would not fight together with one another.”
“There is nothing that can better solve a dispute than having both parties tell their stories.”
“The secret things belong to the gods, but those that are revealed belong to us and our children forever, to the end of time.”
“A prudent man keeps his own counsel.”
“The one who does not punish crime encourages it.”
“It was not those Asians who made war, but those who learned how to make it.”
“You must believe that all men are created equal and that they have inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
“The Persian commanders made great mistakes when they surrounded the Greeks by wagons.”
“A nation or a city can never be happy without bravery in the field of battle.”
“If you spend your time well, you will be happy, but if you are wasted time, it will not be happy.”
“A prudent man keeps his own counsel.”
“Those who can, do; those who cannot, teach.”
“The arts that are not good for defence are not good for attack.”