Plutarch Quotes
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When men are arrived at the goal, they should not turn back.
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Statesmen are not only liable to give an account of what they say or do in public, but there is a busy inquiry made into their very meals, beds, marriages, and every other sportive or serious action.
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The generous mind adds dignity to every act, and nothing misbecomes it.
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Painting is silent poetry.
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Apothegms are the most infallible mirror to represent a man truly what he is.
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Like watermen, who look astern while they row the boat ahead.
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Whenever Alexander heard Philip had taken any town of importance, or won any signal victory, instead of rejoicing at it altogether, he would tell his companions that his father would anticipate everything, and leave him and them no opportunities of performing great and illustrious actions.
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God is the brave man's hope, and not the coward's excuse.
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Antiphanes said merrily that in a certain city the cold was so intense that words were congealed as soon as spoken, but that after some time they thawed and became audible; so that the words spoken in winter articulated next summer.
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'You speak truth,' said Themistocles; 'I should never have been famous if I had been of Seriphus; nor you, had you been of Athens'.
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So also it is good not always to make a friend of the person who is expert in twining himself around us; but, after testing them, to attach ourselves to those who are worthy of our affection and likely to be serviceable to us.
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The whole life of man is but a point of time; let us enjoy it.
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If I were not Alexander, I would be Diogenes.
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Xenophanes said, 'I confess myself the greatest coward in the world, for I dare not do an ill thing.'
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One made the observation of the people of Asia that they were all slaves to one man, merely because they could not pronounce that syllable No.
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Nor is drunkenness censured for anything so much as its intemperate and endless talk.
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When Demaratus was asked whether he held his tongue because he was a fool or for want of words, he replied, 'A fool cannot hold his tongue.'
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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.
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Alcibiades had a very handsome dog, that cost him seven thousand drachmas; and he cut off his tail, 'that,' said he, 'the Athenians may have this story to tell of me, and may concern themselves no further with me.'
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To the Greeks, the supreme function of music was to "praise the gods and educate the youth". In Egypt... Initiatory music was heard only in Temple rites because it carried the vibratory rhythms of other worlds and of a life beyond the mortal.
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If any man think it a small matter, or of mean concernment, to bridle his tongue, he is much mistaken; for it is a point to be silent when occasion requires, and better than to speak, though never so well.
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Anaximander says that men were first produced in fishes, and when they were grown up and able to help themselves were thrown up, and so lived upon the land.
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Cicero said loud-bawling orators were driven by their weakness to noise, as lame men to take horse.
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When malice is joined to envy, there is given forth poisonous and feculent matter, as ink from the cuttle-fish.