Plutarch Quotes
-
The belly has no ears.
-
Courage and wisdom are, indeed, rarities amongst men, but of all that is good, a just man it would seem is the most scarce.
-
Themistocles said that he certainly could not make use of any stringed instrument; could only, were a small and obscure city put into his hands, make it great and glorious.
-
Why does pouring oil on the sea make it clear and calm? Is it for that the winds, slipping the smooth oil, have no force, nor cause any waves?
-
He said they that were serious in ridiculous matters would be ridiculous in serious affairs.
-
Come back with your shield - or on it.
-
For ease and speed in doing a thing do not give the work lasting solidity or exactness of beauty.
-
To make no mistakes is not in the power of man; but from their errors and mistakes the wise and good learn wisdom for the future.
-
A remorseful change of mind renders even a noble action base, whereas the determination which is grounded on knowledge and reason cannot change even if its actions fail.
-
Even a nod from a person who is esteemed is of more force than a thousand arguments or studied sentences from others.
-
A Roman divorced from his wife, being highly blamed by his friends, who demanded, 'Was she not chaste? Was she not fair? Was she not fruitful?' holding out his shoe, asked them whether it was not new and well made. 'Yet,' added he, 'none of you can tell where it pinches me.'
-
If you hate your enemies, you will contract such a vicious habit of mind that it will break out upon those who are your friends, or those who are indifferent to you.
-
There are two sentences inscribed upon the Delphic oracle, hugely accommodated to the usages of man's life: 'Know thyself,' 68 and 'Nothing too much;' and upon these all other precepts depend.
-
Nothing made the horse so fat as the king's eye.
-
Xenophanes said, 'I confess myself the greatest coward in the world, for I dare not do an ill thing.'
-
It is a thing of no great difficulty to raise objections against another man's oration, it is a very easy matter; but to produce a better in it's place is a work extremely troublesome.
-
Cæsar said to the soothsayer, 'The ides of March are come;' who answered him calmly, 'Yes, they are come, but they are not past.'
-
Evidence of trust begets trust, and love is reciprocated by love.
-
After he routed Pharnaces Ponticus at the first assault, he wrote thus to his friends: 'I came, I saw, I conquered.'
-
Friendship requires a steady, constant, and unchangeable character, a person that is uniform in his intimacy.
-
Thus our judgments, if they do not borrow from reason and philosophy a fixity and steadiness of purpose in their acts, are easily swayed and influenced by the praise or blame of others, which make us distrust our own opinions.
-
Proper listening is the foundation of proper living.
-
It is a high distinction for a homely woman to be loved for her character rather than for beauty.
-
When a man's struggle begins within oneself, the man is worth something.