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.
Interpretation
This quote warns us to consider the ultimate outcomes of our actions, as appearances can be deceiving.
Herodotus highlights the importance of reflecting on the final results of our endeavors. Many people might experience initial success or happiness, but this can be reversed, leading to despair or downfall. The quote serves as a reminder to remain vigilant and wise, understanding that the true nature of a situation may only be revealed over time.
In practice
During a motivational speech about perseverance, one might use this quote to emphasize the importance of staying grounded.
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.
I was reminded of the Four Immutable Laws of the Spirit: Whoever is present are the right people. Whenever it begins is the right time. Whatever happens is the only thing that could have happened. And when it's over, it's over.
A civilization begins to decline the moment Life becomes its sole obsession.
But you who walk facing the sun, what images drawn on the earth can hold you?
A finite world can support only a finite population; therefore, population growth must eventually equal zero.
Fairy tales do not give the child his first idea of bogey. What fairy tales give the child is his first clear idea of the possible defeat of bogey. The baby has known the dragon intimately ever since he had an imagination. What the fairy tale provides for him is a St. George to kill the dragon.
He saw something that makes a man doubtful of the constancy of the realities outside himself. It was the shocking discovery that makes a man wonder if I've missed this, what else have I failed to see?
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