Men trust their ears less than their eyes.
Interpretation
People tend to believe what they see rather than what they hear.
This quote by Herodotus suggests that visual evidence is more convincing to individuals than auditory information. It highlights the human tendency to rely on sight as a more trustworthy source of information, which can lead to skepticism towards spoken words or claims that lack visual support.
In practice
During a discussion about misinformation, this quote can emphasize the importance of credible visual data.
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.
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.
Illness strikes men when they are exposed to change.
The greatest enemy of individual freedom is the individual himself.
I cry very easily. It can be a movie, a phone conversation, a sunset - tears are words waiting to be written.
It's obvious that the key problem facing humanity in the coming century is how to bring a better quality of life - for 8 billion or more people - without wrecking the environment entirely in the attempt.
Everything which relates to God is infinite. We must therefore, while we keep our hearts humble, keep our aims high. Our highest services are indeed but finite, imperfect. But as God is unlimited in goodness, He should have our unlimited love.
I see nothing but Becoming. Be not deceived! It is the fault of your limited outlook and not the fault of the essence of things if you believe that you see firm land anywhere in the ocean of Becoming and Passing. You need names for things, just as if they had a rigid permanence, but the very river in which you bathe a second time is no longer the same one which you entered before
What do babies dream of? She must be dreaming of the before-life, just as I dream of the afterlife.
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