The peoples of the Mediterranean began to emerge from barbarism when they learned to cultivate the olive and the vine.
ThucydidesRead
Most people, in fact, will not take the trouble in finding out the truth, but are much more inclined to accept the first story they hear.
Interpretation
What this quote means
People tend to believe the first explanation they hear rather than seeking the truth themselves.
Thucydides' quote emphasizes the tendency of individuals to passively accept information without questioning its validity. This reflects a broader commentary on human nature, suggesting that curiosity and critical thinking are often overshadowed by the comfort of easy answers, thus hindering the pursuit of deeper truths.
Themes
TruthDeceptionInformationOpinionsCritical Thinking
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about media bias, you might cite this quote to illustrate how people often accept news at face value.
More from Thucydides
All quotes βWe Greeks are lovers of the beautiful, yet simple in our tastes, and we cultivate the mind without loss of manliness.
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If it had not been for the pernicious power of envy, men would not so have exalted vengeance above innocence and profit above justice... in these acts of revenge on others, men take it upon themselves to begin the process of repealing those general laws of humanity which are there to give a hope of salvation to all who are in distress.
ThucydidesRead
Thucydides, an Athenian, wrote the history of the war between the Peloponnesians and the Athenians, he began at the moment that it broke out, believing that it would be a great war, and more memorable than any that had preceded it.
ThucydidesRead
Some legislators only wish to vengeance against a particular enemy. Others only look out for themselves. They devote very little time on the consideration of any public issue. They think that no harm will come from their neglect. They act as if it is always the business of somebody else to look after this or that. When this selfish notion is entertained by all, the commonwealth slowly begins to decay.
ThucydidesRead
Remember that this greatness was won by men with courage, with knowledge of their duty, and with a sense of honor in action.
ThucydidesRead
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Yet I also suspected that what I was seeing was but a part of the truth and perhaps not even the most important part; beneath these faces, these clothes, accents, rudenesses, was power and sorrow, both unadmitted, unrealized, the power of inventors, the sorrow of the disconnected.
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Many theories of the ancient world seem terribly childish today, a hodge-podge of fables and false comparisons.But our theories will seem childish five-hundred years from now.Every theory is based on some analogy, and sooner or later the theory fails because the analogy turns out to be false. A theory in its day helps to solve the problems of the day.
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Our human laws are but the copies, more or less imperfect, of the eternal laws, so far as we can read them.
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