--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The single book that has influenced me…" description: "\"“The single book that has influenced me most is probably the last book in the world that anybody is gonna want to read: Thucydides’ History of the Pelo..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6c7/timothy-ferriss-973_books_the-single-book-that-has-influenced-me-m_592729.jpg" --- # The single book that has influenced me most is probably… ![“The single book that has influenced me most is probably the last book in the world that anybody is gonna want to read: Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War. This book is dense, difficult, long, full of blood and guts. It wasn’t written, as Thucydides himself attests at the start, to be…” quote by Timothy Ferriss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6c7/timothy-ferriss-973_books_the-single-book-that-has-influenced-me-m_592729.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6c7/timothy-ferriss-973_books_the-single-book-that-has-influenced-me-m_592729.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6c7/timothy-ferriss-973_books_the-single-book-that-has-influenced-me-m_592729.jpg) > ““The single book that has influenced me most is probably the last book in the world that anybody is gonna want to read: Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War. This book is dense, difficult, long, full of blood and guts. It wasn’t written, as Thucydides himself attests at the start, to be easy or fun. But it is loaded with hardcore, timeless truths and the story it tells ought to be required reading for every citizen in a democracy. Thucydides was an Athenian general who was beaten and disgraced in a battle early in the 27-year conflagration that came to be called the Peloponnesian War. He decided to drop out of the fighting and dedicate himself to recording, in all the detail he could manage, this conflict, which, he felt certain, would turn out to be the greatest and most significant war ever fought up to that time. He did just that. Have you heard of Pericles’ Funeral Oration? Thucydides was there for it. He transcribed it. He was there for the debates in the Athenian assembly over the treatment of the island of Melos, the famous Melian Dialogue. If he wasn’t there for the defeat of the Athenian fleet at Syracuse or the betrayal of Athens by Alcibiades, he knew people who were there and he went to extremes to record what they told him.Thucydides, like all the Greeks of his era, was unencumbered by Christian theology, or Marxist dogma, or Freudian psychology, or any of the other “isms” that attempt to convince us that man is basically good, or perhaps perfectible. He saw things as they were, in my opinion. It’s a dark vision but tremendously bracing and empowering because it’s true. On the island of Corcyra, a great naval power in its day, one faction of citizens trapped their neighbors and fellow Corcyreans in a temple. They slaughtered the prisoners’ children outside before their eyes and when the captives gave themselves up based on pledges of clemency and oaths sworn before the gods, the captors massacred them as well. This was not a war of nation versus nation, this was brother against brother in the most civilized cities on earth. To read Thucydides is to see our own world in microcosm. It’s the study of how democracies destroy themselves by breaking down into warring factions, the Few versus the Many. Hoi polloi in Greek means “the many.” Oligoi means “the few.” I can’t recommend Thucydides for fun, but if you want to expose yourself to a towering intellect writing on the deepest stuff imaginable, give it a try.”” [Timothy Ferriss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-ferriss/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Thucydides chronicles the brutal realities of war and politics, offering timeless insights into human nature and the dangers facing democracy. **In simple terms:** History shows harsh truths about power and conflict. Key Takeaway Study history to guard democracy. Themes politics war human nature democracy history Mood reflective serious inquisitive Type philosophical historical When to use this quote - political debate - leadership training - citizen education - strategic planning Key Concepts realism political theory historical analysis Questions to Reflect On - How can we apply ancient lessons to modern governance? - What safeguards protect democratic institutions? A Different Perspective It may overlook positive aspects of human cooperation. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [Christian theology](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/christian-theology/) [History](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/history/) [Read Thucydides](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/read-thucydides-3964248/) [Recommend Thucydides](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/recommend-thucydides-4848132/) [Thucydides World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thucydides-world-4848130/) [Told Thucydides](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/told-thucydides-4848131/) [War](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/war/) [Written Thucydides](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/written-thucydides-4848129/) ## Related quotes > [There's a reason you can still read Thucydides, and it still makes sense to you thousands of years later.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/d-b-weiss/there-s-a-reason-you-can-still-read-thucydides-and-it-still-makes/) [D. B. 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Some fine day you'll die of a misprint.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/markus-herz/be-careful-about-reading-health-books-some-fine-day-you-ll-die-of-a/) [Markus Herz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/markus-herz/) > [But editors are still the world's readers. And thus the eyes of the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/betsy-lerner/but-editors-are-still-the-world-s-readers-and-thus-the-eyes-of-the/) [Betsy Lerner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/betsy-lerner/) [Browse all 59,485 Books quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“The single book that has influenced me most is probably the last book in the world that anybody is gonna want to read: Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War. This book is dense, difficult, long, full of blood and guts. It wasn’t written, as Thucydides himself attests at the start, to be easy or fun. But it is loaded with hardcore, timeless truths and the story it tells ought to be required reading for every citizen in a democracy. Thucydides was an Athenian general who was beaten and disgraced in a battle early in the 27-year conflagration that came to be called the Peloponnesian War. He decided to drop out of the fighting and dedicate himself to recording, in all the detail he could manage, this conflict, which, he felt certain, would turn out to be the greatest and most significant war ever fought up to that time. He did just that. Have you heard of Pericles’ Funeral Oration? Thucydides was there for it. He transcribed it. He was there for the debates in the Athenian assembly over the treatment of the island of Melos, the famous Melian Dialogue. If he wasn’t there for the defeat of the Athenian fleet at Syracuse or the betrayal of Athens by Alcibiades, he knew people who were there and he went to extremes to record what they told him.Thucydides, like all the Greeks of his era, was unencumbered by Christian theology, or Marxist dogma, or Freudian psychology, or any of the other “isms” that attempt to convince us that man is basically good, or perhaps perfectible. He saw things as they were, in my opinion. It’s a dark vision but tremendously bracing and empowering because it’s true. On the island of Corcyra, a great naval power in its day, one faction of citizens trapped their neighbors and fellow Corcyreans in a temple. They slaughtered the prisoners’ children outside before their eyes and when the captives gave themselves up based on pledges of clemency and oaths sworn before the gods, the captors massacred them as well. This was not a war of nation versus nation, this was brother against brother in the most civilized cities on earth. To read Thucydides is to see our own world in microcosm. It’s the study of how democracies destroy themselves by breaking down into warring factions, the Few versus the Many. Hoi polloi in Greek means “the many.” Oligoi means “the few.” I can’t recommend Thucydides for fun, but if you want to expose yourself to a towering intellect writing on the deepest stuff imaginable, give it a try.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Timothy Ferriss" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-ferriss/the-single-book-that-has-influenced-me-most-is-probably-the-last-book/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Books" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-ferriss/the-single-book-that-has-influenced-me-most-is-probably-the-last-book/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6c7/timothy-ferriss-973_books_the-single-book-that-has-influenced-me-m_592729.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6c7/timothy-ferriss-973_books_the-single-book-that-has-influenced-me-m_592729.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6c7/timothy-ferriss-973_books_the-single-book-that-has-influenced-me-m_592729.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The single book that has influenced me most is probably the last book in the world that anybody is gonna…” — Timothy Ferriss", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Timothy Ferriss", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-ferriss/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“The single book that has influenced...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-ferriss/the-single-book-that-has-influenced-me-most-is-probably-the-last-book/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-ferriss/the-single-book-that-has-influenced-me-most-is-probably-the-last-book/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```