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

— Herodotus

If an important decision is to be made, they [the Persians] discuss the question when they are drunk, and the following day the master of the house where the discussion was held submits their decision for reconsideration when they are sober. If they still approve it, it is adopted; if not, it is abandoned. Conversely, any decision they make when they are sober, is reconsidered afterward when they are drunk.

— 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

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

Illness strikes men when they are exposed to change.

— Herodotus

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

— Herodotus

In peace sons bury their fathers in war fathers bury their sons.

— Herodotus

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

— 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

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