In peace sons bury fathers, but war violates the order of nature, and fathers bury sons.
Interpretation
War disrupts the natural order of life and death, reversing the expected roles of parents and children.
This quote by Herodotus reflects on the tragic consequences of war, emphasizing how it alters the natural progression of life where typically, parents pass before their children. In peaceful circumstances, it is natural for sons to bury their fathers, but the devastation of war leads to the unnatural scenario where fathers must bury their sons, highlighting the deep sorrow and disruption caused by conflict.
In practice
In a speech advocating for peace, this quote can underscore the devastating impacts of war.
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 work a lot with blind people in my spare time outside of Unilever, and I count my blessings every day.
History has blessed us with all the freedom and advantages of multiculturalism. But it has also blessed us, because of the accident of our origins, with the linguistic unity that brings a critically needed cohesion to a nation as diverse, multiracial and multiethnic as America. Why gratuitously throw away that priceless asset? How mindless to call the desire to retain it 'racist.
I never wish to be easily defined.
Be very careful. Giving because we think we will get something back will not work. You must be 100 percent willing to give and never experience any return, or it will not work.
No member of a crew is praised for the rugged individuality of his rowing.
[God] is perfect not only insofar as He is absolute perfection, defining perfection in Himself and from His singular existence and total perfection, but also because He is far beyond being so. He sets a boundary to the boundless and in His total unity He rises above all limitation. He is neither contained nor comprehended by anything. He reaches out to everything and beyond everything and does so with unfailing generosity and unstinted activity.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.