Plutarch Quotes
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To conduct great matters and never commit a fault is above the force of human nature.
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'And this,' said Cæsar, 'you know, young man, is more disagreeable for me to say than to do.'
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Lampis, the sea commander, being asked how he got his wealth, answered, 'My greatest estate I gained easily enough, but the smaller slowly and with much labour.'
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Remember what Simonides said,-that he never repented that he had held his tongue, but often that he had spoken.
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Though others before him had triumphed three times, Pompeius, by having gained his first triumph over Libya, his second over Europe, and this the last over Asia, seemed in a manner to have brought the whole world into his three triumphs.
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It is not histories I am writing, but lives; and in the most glorious deeds there is not always an indication of virtue or vice, indeed a small thing like a phrase or a jest often makes a greater revelation of a character than battles where thousands die.
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The richest soil, if uncultivated, produces the rankest weeds.
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The most glorious exploits do not always furnish us with the clearest discoveries of virtue or vice in men.
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If you light upon an impertinent talker, that sticks to you like a bur, to the disappointment of your important occasions, deal freely with him, break off the discourse, and pursue your business.
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As those that pull down private houses adjoining to the temples of the gods, prop up such parts as are contiguous to them; so, in undermining bashfulness, due regard is to be had to adjacent modesty, good-nature and humanity.
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Since, during storms, flames leap from the humid vapors and dark clouds emit deafening noises, is it surprising the lightning, when it strikes the ground, gives rise to truffles, which do not resemble plants?
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He who least likes courting favour, ought also least to think of resenting neglect; to feel wounded at being refused a distinction can only arise from an overweening appetite to have it.
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He (Cato) used to say that in all his life he never repented but of three things. The first was that he had trusted a woman with a secret; the second that he had gone by sea when he might have gone by land; and the third, that had passed one day without having a will by him.
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As to Caesar, when he was called upon, he gave no testimony against Clodius, nor did he affirm that he was certain of any injury done to his bed. He only said, He had divorced Pompeia because the wife of Caesar ought not only to be clear of such a crime, but of the very suspicion of it.
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Authority and place demonstrate and try the tempers of men, by moving every passion and discovering every frailty.
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The first evil those who are prone to talk suffer, is that they hear nothing.
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Wickedness is a wonderfully diligent architect of misery, of shame, accompanied with terror, and commotion, and remorse, and endless perturbation.
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Courage consists not in hazarding without fear; but being resolutely minded in a just cause.
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As Meander says, 'For our mind is God;' and as Heraclitus, 'Man's genius is a deity.'
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'I will show,' said Agesilaus, 'that it is not the places that grace men, but men the places.'
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There are two sentences inscribed upon the Ancient oracle... "Know thyself" and "Nothing too much"; and upon these all other precepts depend.
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Cato said, 'I had rather men should ask why my statue is not set up, than why it is.'
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When Anaxagoras was told of the death of his son, he only said, "I knew he was mortal." So we in all casualties of life should say "I knew my riches were uncertain, that my friend was but a man." Such considerations would soon pacify us, because all our troubles proceed from their being unexpected.
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Character is long-standing habit.