A general curiosity about the unknown sparked by the multicultural milieu in which I spent my formative years. There was a lot of unknown back then, too. I dare say it was easier to be an explorer then.
HerodotusAdversity has the effect of drawing out strength and qualities of a man that would have laid dormant in its absence.
HerodotusFar better it is to have a stout heart always and suffer one's share of evils, than to be ever fearing what may happen.
HerodotusThe 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.
Herodotus