It seems that among classicists there is some debate whether Xerxes actually said this, but some agree that the words suit him well. Like many, they hit me in The Expanse (S5 E2) when spoken by Captain Sauveterre.
“Plan and prepare for every possibility, and you will never act. It is nobler to have courage as we stumble into half the things we fear than to analyse every possible obstacle and begin nothing. Great things are achieved by embracing great dangers.”
—Attributed to Xerxes from Herodotus’ “Histories.” Xerxes is talking with his uncle Artabanus while surveying his army crossing the Hellespont to invade Greece.
