Circumstances rule men; men do not rule circumstances.
Interpretation
Men are often governed by their situations rather than by their own decisions.
This quote by Herodotus suggests that people are often constrained by their circumstances, implying that external factors often have more control over individuals than their own will or decisions. It emphasizes the power of context and environment in shaping human behavior and actions, illustrating the idea that individuals cannot always assert control over the various challenges and situations they face in life.
In practice
During a motivational speech on resilience, referencing this quote can illustrate how external situations can impact our choices.
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.
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.
Men trust their ears less than their eyes.
Great deeds are usually wrought at great risks.
The worst pain a man can have is to know much and be impotent to act.
All men's gains are the fruit of venturing.
Anyone who believes you can't change history has never tried to write his memoirs.
A great country worthy of the name does not have any friends.
I feel most alive, most electric with faith, breath, and courage, when I think of God as a current that runs through all that is. Not by will or by choice. Not as a benediction but because there are laws even God must obey.
All human situations have their inconveniences. We feel those of the present but neither see nor feel those of the future; and hence we often make troublesome changes without amendment, and frequently for the worse.
The world is not something separate from you and me; the world, society, is the relationship that we establish or seek to establish between each other. So you and I are the problem, and not the world, because the world is the projection of ourselves, and to understand the world we must understand ourselves. That world is not separate from us; we are the world, and our problems are the world's problems.
We should give as we would receive, cheerfully, quickly, and without hesitation; for there is no grace in a benefit that sticks to the fingers.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.