Herodotus
The Histories
The king in book one who didn’t allow people to see him so he wouldn’t be demystified.
A friend is more grateful if you return what you have taken rather than never have taken it (pg 170)
Against kings (pg 187)
Oligarchy (pg 188)
Divine providence and planning in the world (pg 196)
Apparently it is easier to impose upon a crowd than an individual (pg. 316).
Hippocleides doesn’t care (pg 367)
Readiness to listen to good advice comes to much the same thing as being wise oneself…when we were offered a choice between two courses, of which one tended to flatter our arrogance and the other to check it by pointing out how wrong it is to teach the heart always to seek for more than it possesses, you choose the one that is more likely to lead both yourself and your country to disaster. (pg 381)
The usual thing is that profit comes to those who are willing to act, not to the over-cautious and hestitant. (pg 392)
Let a man lay his plans with due regard to common sense, and he will usually succeed. Otherwise, he will find that God is unlikely to favor human designs. – Themistocles (pg 468)
This is the worst pain a man can have: to know much and have no power to act. (pg 504)