Tao Te Ching
Herodotus Ἡρόδοτος
c. 484 - 425 BCE
“The Father of History”
“The Father of History” and first known historian to systematically collect and investigate facts, Herodotus described the purpose of his efforts “to prevent the traces of human events from being erased by time, and to preserve the fame of the important and remarkable achievements.” While the accuracy of his accounts is often questioned, he worked hard to corroborate his stories. From an internationally-minded port city and widely traveled, he describes many of his accounts from an eye-witness perspective. With an overarching theme of civilizations in conflict, he collected oral histories during his travels, thought about their meanings and interpreted them. Not only reporting on ancient science, he also speculated on scientific, cultural, geographical, and historical questions. His role in bringing ancient wisdom into modern understanding is immense.
Lineages
Greek Historians / Journalists Scientists
Eras
Western
Egyptian Civilization (3150 – 305 BCE)Greek Civilization (480 – 146 BCE)
The Axial Age, “The Great Leap of Being” (800 – 200 BCE)
Sources
Unlisted Sources
Quotes by Herodotus (17 quotes)
“Of all possessions, a friend is the most precious.”
from Histories
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“Nobody should be mad enough to choose war when there is peace. During times of peace, sons bury their fathers but in war fathers bury their sons.”
from Histories
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“It is better by far to risk the evils we anticipate than to remain in fear of what might happen.”
from Histories
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“Anyone understanding their neighbor's suffering would be glad to go home with their own.”
from Histories
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“Civil strife is as much a greater evil than war as war itself is worse than peace.”
from Histories
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“Everyone believes his own native customs, and the religion he was brought up in, to be the best.”
from Histories
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“The gods love to thwart whatever is greater than the rest. They do not suffer pride in anyone but themselves.”
from Histories
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“There is nothing more foolish, nothing more given to outrage than a useless mob.”
from Histories
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“The only good is knowledge, and the only evil is ignorance.”
from Histories
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“Circumstances rule men; men do not rule circumstances.”
from Histories
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“Until he is dead, keep the word ‘happy’ in reserve. Till then, he is not happy, but only lucky.”
from Histories
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“Happiness does not come from fame, riches, or virtue. It only arises when posterity—reflecting on our life—believes it to be a life they would wish to live.”
from Histories
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“Were there no question of advantage, the honest would be as likely to lie as the liar, and the liar would tell the truth as readily as the honest man.”
from Histories
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“Prosperity never stays long in the same place: cities once great are now small and ones great now were small.”
from Histories
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from Histories
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“Circumstances rule men; men do not rule circumstances.”
from Histories
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“I shall not tell the story of Abaris, said to have been a Hyperborean who went around the whole world carrying an arrow and eating nothing.”
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Quotes about Herodotus (1 quotes)
“Herodotus's journeys are purposeful... [he] works hard on the road—he is a reporter, an anthropologist, an ethnographer, a historian... a typical wanderer, a pilgrim... he is the first to discover the world's multicultural nature, the first to argue that each culture requires acceptance and understanding, and that to understand it, one must first come to know it.”
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