Plutarch Quotes
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Phocion compared the speeches of Leosthenes to cypress-trees. 'They are tall,' said he, 'and comely, but bear no fruit.'
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τοῖς ἐγρηγορόσιν ἕνα καὶ κοινὸν κόσμον εἶναι, τῶν δὲ κοιμωμένων ἕκαστον εἰς ἴδιον ἀποστρέφεσθαι
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It was the saying of Bion, that though the boys throw stones at frogs in sport, yet the frogs do not die in sport but in earnest.
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For water continually dropping will wear hard rocks hollow.
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A fool cannot hold his tongue.
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For man is a plant, not fixed in the earth, nor immovable, but heavenly, whose head, rising as it were from a root upwards, is turned towards heaven.
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Friendship is the most pleasant of all things, and nothing more glads the heart of man.
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I have heard that Tiberius used to say that that man was ridiculous, who after sixth years, appealed to a physician.
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For it was not so much that by means of words I came to a complete understanding of things, as that from things I somehow had an experience which enabled me to follow the meaning of words.
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Justice makes the life of such as are in prosperity, power and authority the life of a god, and injustice turns it to that of a beast.
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It is a true proverb, that if you live with a lame man, you will learn a limp.
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Knavery is the best defense against a knave.
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As small letters hurt the sight, so do small matters him that is too much intent upon them; they vex and stir up anger, which begets an evil habit in him in reference to greater affairs.
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These are the materials for reflection which history affords to those who choose to make use of them.
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Xenophon says that there is no sound more pleasing than one's own praises.
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A friend should be like money, tried before being required, not found faulty in our need.
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Note that the eating of flesh is not only physically against nature, but it also makes us spiritually coarse and gross by reason of satiety and surfeit.
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The conduct of a wise politician is ever suited to the present posture of affairs. Often by foregoing a part he saves the whole, and by yielding in a small matter secures a greater.
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Cato instigated the magistrates to punish all offenders, saying that they that did not prevent crimes when they might, encouraged them. Of young men, he liked them that blushed better than those who looked pale.
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There is no debt with so much prejudice put off as that of justice.
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Lysander, when Dionysius sent him two gowns, and bade him choose which he would carry to his daughter, said, 'She can choose best,' and so took both away with him.
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It does not follow, that because a particular work of art succeeds in charming us, its creator also deserves our admiration.
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Neither blame or praise yourself.
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To please the many is to displease the wise.