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.
Traffic congestion is caused by vehicles, not by people in themselves.
Nowadays men lead lives of noisy desperation.
Possession, it is true, crowns exertion with rest; but it is only in the illusions of fancy that it has power to charm us.
He that would be angry and sin not, must not be angry with anything but sin.
I have been called arrogant myself in my time, and hope to earn the title again, but to claim that I am privy to the secrets of the universe and its creator - that's beyond my conceit.
'When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, 'it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less.'
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