Plutarch Quotes
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Knavery is the best defense against a knave.
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To please the many is to displease the wise.
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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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Lysander said, 'Where the lion's skin will not reach, it must be pieced with the fox's.'
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When one told Plistarchus that a notorious railer spoke well of him, 'I 'll lay my life,' said he, 'somebody hath told him I am dead, for he can speak well of no man living.'
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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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But being overborne with numbers, and nobody daring to face about, stretching out his hands to heaven, [Romulus] prayed to Jupiter to stop the army, and not to neglect but maintain the Roman cause, now in extreme danger. The prayer was no sooner made, than shame and respect for their king checked many; the fears of the fugitives changed suddenly into confidence.
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Moral good is a practical stimulus; it is no sooner seen than it inspires an impulse to practise.
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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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The poor go to war, to fight and die for the delights, riches, and superfluities of others.
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It is a difficult task, O citizens, to make speeches to the belly, which has no ears.
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Abstruse questions must have abstruse answers.
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Man is neither by birth nor disposition a savage, nor of unsocial habits, but only becomes so by indulging in vices contrary to his nature.
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Why does pouring Oil on the Sea make it Clear and Calm? Is it that the winds, slipping the smooth oil, have no force, nor cause any waves?
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It is no flattery to give a friend a due character; for commendation is as much the duty of a friend as reprehension.
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When Hermodotus in his poems described Antigonus as the son of Helios, 'My valet-de-chambre,' said he, 'is not aware of this.'
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King Agis said, "The Lacedæmonians are not wont to ask how many, but where the enemy are."
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The wildest colts make the best horses.
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Choose what is best, and habit will make it pleasant and easy.
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Most people do not understand until old age what Plato tells them when they are young.