It is better to be envied than pitied.
• Variant: How much better a thing it is to be envied than to be pitied." - Meaning and context.">
Book 3, Ch. 52

It is better to be envied than pitied.
• Variant: How much better a thing it is to be envied than to be pitied.

— Herodotus

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "It is better to be envied than pitied.
• Variant: How much better a thing it is to be envied than to be pitied." in the context of "Book 3, Ch. 52" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

Source: Wikiquote: "Herodotus" (The Histories) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Herodotus

About Herodotus

Herodotus of Halicarnassus (Greek: Ἡρόδοτος, Hēródotos) (c. 484 BC – c. 425 BC) was a historian, known for his writings on the conflict between Greece and Persia, as well as the descriptions he wrote of different places and people he met on his travels.