The 100 Best Herodotus Quotes From The Father Of History

Herodotus was a historian from Greece, born in Persian Empire.

Herodotus's main work on the Greco-Persian war is detailed in the book 'The Histories.' Interestingly, he read the entire book at the Olympic games, for which there was great applause.

He was the first to implement a systematic approach for works on history. Read on for Herodotus quotes and if similar articles interest you, then check out Greek quotes and Archimedes quotes.

‍

Herodotus was alive from c. 484 – c. 425 BC. He was widely recognized for his narratives. Some of the quotes by Herodotus are listed below.

1."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 Histories.'

2."In peace, sons bury their fathers. In war, fathers bury their sons."

― Herodotus.

3."It is better to be envied than pitied."

― Herodotus.

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

― Herodotus.

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

― Herodotus.

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

― Herodotus.

7."If one is sufficiently lavish with time, everything possible happens."

― Herodotus.

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

― Herodotus.

9."Chances rule men and not men's chances."

― Herodotus.

10."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.

11."He worst pain a man can suffer: to have insight into much and power over nothing."

― Herodotus.

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

― Herodotus, 'The Histories.'

13."Great deeds are usually wrought at great risks."

― Herodotus.

14."Men trust their ears less than their eyes."

― Herodotus.

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

― Herodotus.

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

― Herodotus.

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

― Herodotus.

18."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.

19."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, 'The Histories.'

20."Of all possessions a friend is the most precious."

― Herodotus.

21."Circumstances rule men; men do not rule circumstances."

― Herodotus.

22."Many exceedingly rich men are unhappy, but many middling circumstances are fortunate."

― Herodotus.

23."Where wisdom is called for, force is of little use."

― Herodotus.

Herodotus is known for his knowledge of history. Many authors draw inspiration from this Greek historian and Herodotus quotes. Some of the Herodotus quotes about Athens and other good Herodotus quotes are listed below.

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

― Herodotus.

25."The wooden wall alone should remain unconquered."

― Herodotus.

26."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.

27."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.

28."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, 'The Histories Of Herodotus Of Halicarnassus.'

29."There is nothing more foolish, nothing more given to outrage than a useless mob."

― Herodotus.

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

― Herodotus.

31."We are less convinced by what we hear than by what we see."

― Herodotus.

32."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.

33."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.

34."Hippocleides doesn't care."

― Herodotus, 'The Histories.'

35."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."

― Herodotus, 'The Histories.'

36."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 Histories.'

37."Human prosperity never abides long in the same place,"

― Herodotus, 'The Histories.'

38."The longer the span of someone's existence, the more certain he is to see and suffer much that he would rather have been spared."

― Herodotus, 'The Histories.'

39."I believe that the women were called by the Dodonaeans 'doves' because they were barbarians, and so they seemed to the people of Dodona to talk like birds."

― Herodotus, 'The Histories.'

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

― Herodotus, 'The Histories.'

41."Humans and prosperity never endure side by side for long."

― Herodotus, 'The Histories.'

42."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 Histories.'

43."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.

44."All men's gains are the fruit of venturing."

― Herodotus.

45."Death is a delightful hiding place for weary men."

― Herodotus.

46."Force has no place where there is a need of skill."

― Herodotus.

47."When a woman removes her garment, she also removes the respect that is hers."

― Herodotus.

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

― Herodotus.

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

― Herodotus.

50."My men have become women, but the women men."

― Herodotus.

51."Good masters generally have bad slaves, and bad slaves have good masters."

― Herodotus.

52."Remember that with her clothes a woman puts off her modesty."

― Herodotus.

53."The most hateful human misfortune is for a wise man to have no influence."

― Herodotus.

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

― Herodotus.

55."But I like not this great success of yours; for I know how jealous are the gods."

― Herodotus.

56."Knowledge may give weight, but accomplishments give luster, and many more people see than weigh."

― Herodotus.

During his life span, this Greek historian traveled to Egypt. He has added the details of his trip in his book, 'The Histories.' Here are such Herodotus quotes on Egypt.

57."It [Egypt] has more wonders in it than any other country in the world and provides more works that defy description than any other place."

― Herodotus.

58."Egypt is the gift of the Nile."

― Herodotus.

59."The Colchians, Ethiopians, and Egyptians have thick lips, broad nose, woolly hair and they are burnt of skin."

― Herodotus.

60."Swine are held by the Egyptians to be unclean beasts."

― Herodotus.

61."The secret of success is that it is not the absence of failure, but the absence of envy."

― Herodotus.

62."Haste in every business brings failures."

― Herodotus.

63."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.

64."Great things are won by great dangers."

― Herodotus.

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

― Herodotus.

Persian war has been part of  Greek history. Hence, Herodotus quotes have many details on the Persian war from his perspective. Some of the Herodotus quotes about war and Herodotus quotes about history are listed below.

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

― Herodotus.

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

― Herodotus.

68."For no sooner is war proclaimed than they search out the smoothest and fairest plain that is to be found in all the land, and there they assemble and fight"

― Herodotus, 'The Persian Wars'.

69."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.

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

― Herodotus.

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

― Herodotus.

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

― Herodotus.

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

― Herodotus.

74."God does not suffer presumption in anyone but himself."

― Herodotus.

75."Illness strikes men when they are exposed to change."

― Herodotus.

76."How much better a thing it is to be envied than to be pitied."

― Herodotus.

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

― Herodotus.

78."The only good is knowledge, and the only evil is ignorance."

― Herodotus.

79."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.

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

― Herodotus.

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

― Herodotus.

82."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.

83."Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds."

― Herodotus.

84."Soft men tend to be born from soft countries."

― Herodotus.

85."Dreams, in general, take their rise from those incidents which have most occupied the thoughts during the day."

― Herodotus.

86."When life is so burdensome death has become a sought-after refuge."

― Herodotus.

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

― Herodotus.

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

― Herodotus.

89."Men's fortunes are on a wheel, which in its turning suffers not the same man to prosper forever."

― Herodotus.

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

― Herodotus.

91."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."

― Herodotus.

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

― Herodotus.

93."Now stop your dancing; you wouldn't come out and dance when I played to you."

― Herodotus.

94."They are free, but not entirely free. For Law is despot over them, and they fear him much more than your men fear you."

― Herodotus.

95."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."

― Herodotus.

96."In soft regions are born soft men."

― Herodotus.

97."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.

98."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.

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

― Herodotus.

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

― Herodotus.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly quotes for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for Herodotus Quotes, then why not take a look at Vaclav Havel quotes or knight quotes.

‍