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My Favorite Bit From Herodotus

Posted on: 2007-09-20

Discussing ancient Persian decision-making:

It is also their general practice to deliberate upon affairs of weight when they are drunk; and then on the morrow, when they are sober, the decision to which they came the night before is put before them by the master of the house in which it was made; and if it is then approved of, they act on it; if not, they set it aside. Sometimes, however, they are sober at their first deliberation, but in this case they always reconsider the matter under the influence of wine. (Histories, Book I, Section 133)

Drinking whenever you have a decision to make could be hard on the liver, but I think it is a good idea to balance deep deliberation with impulse and gut feeling. You know, like in that Rush album - I mean that Nietzsche book!

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