Plutarch Quotes
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The belly has no ears.
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Courage and wisdom are, indeed, rarities amongst men, but of all that is good, a just man it would seem is the most scarce.
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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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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?
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Alexander wept when he heard from Anaxarchus that there was an infinite number of worlds; and his friends asking him if any accident had befallen him, he returns this answer: 'Do you not think it a matter worthy of lamentation that when there is such a vast multitude of them, we have not yet conquered one?'
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Archimedes had stated, that given the force, any given weight might be moved; and even boasted that if there were another earth, by going into it he could remove this.
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When malice is joined to envy, there is given forth poisonous and feculent matter, as ink from the cuttle-fish.
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I, for my part, wonder of what sort of feeling, mind or reason that man was possessed who was first to pollute his mouth with gore, and to allow his lips to touch the flesh of a murdered being: who spread his table with the mangled forms of dead bodies, and claimed as daily food and dainty dishes what but now were beings endowed with movement, perception and with voice. …but for the sake of some little mouthful of flesh, we deprive a soul of the sun and light, and of that portion of life and time it had been born in to the world to enjoy.
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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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Apothegms are the most infallible mirror to represent a man truly what he is.
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The superstitious man wishes he did not believe in gods, as the atheist does not, but fears to disbelieve in them.
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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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Abstain from beans; that is, keep out of public offices, for anciently the choice of the officers of state was made by beans.
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He who busies himself in mean occupations, produces in the very pains he takes about things of little or no use, an evidence against himself of his negligence and indisposition to what is really good.
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To one that promised to give him hardy cocks that would die fighting, 'Prithee,' said Cleomenes, 'give me cocks that will kill fighting.'
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There is no perfecter endowment in man than political virtue.
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Memory: what wonders it performs in preserving and storing up things gone by - or rather, things that are.
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God is the brave man's hope, and not the coward's excuse.
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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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Cato the elder wondered how that city was preserved wherein a fish was sold for more than an ox.
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Painting is silent poetry.
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Being nimble and light-footed, his father encouraged him to run in the Olympic race. 'Yes,' said he, 'if there were any kings there to run with me.'
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When a man's struggle begins within oneself, the man is worth something.
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Caesar's wife should be above suspicion.