Historia (Inquiry); so that the actions of of people will not fade with time.

Very few things happen at the right time, and the rest do not happen at all. The conscientious historian will correct these defects.

It is the gods' custom to bring low all things of surpassing greatness.

If a man insisted always on being serious, and never allowed himself a bit of fun and relaxation, he would go mad or become unstable without knowing it.

This king [Sesostris] divided the land among all Egyptians so as to give each one a quadrangle of equal size and to draw from each his revenues, by imposing a tax to be levied yearly. But everyone from whose part the river tore anything away, had to go to him to notify what had happened; he then sent overseers who had to measure out how much the land had become smaller, in order that the owner might pay on what was left, in proportion to the entire tax imposed. In this way, it appears to me, geometry originated, which passed thence to Hellas.

These 'messengers' will not be hindered from accomplishing at their best speed the distance which they have to go, either by snow, or rain, or heat, or by the darkness of night.

All of life is action and passion, and not to be involved in the actions and passions of your time is to risk having not really lived at all.