Plutarch Quotes
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The first man . . . ventured to call food and nourishment the parts that had a little before bellowed and cried, moved and lived. How could his eyes endure the slaughter when throats were slit and hides flayed and limbs torn from limb? How could his nose endure the stench? How was it that the pollution did not turn away his taste, which made contact with the sores of others and sucked juices and serums from mortal wounds?
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When Philip had news brought him of divers and eminent successes in one day, 'O Fortune!' said he, 'for all these so great kindnesses do me some small mischief.'
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Did you not know, then, that to-day Lucullus sups with Lucullus?
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The giving of riches and honors to a wicked man is like giving strong wine to him that hath a fever.
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Do not speak of your happiness to one less fortunate than yourself.
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For he who gives no fuel to fire puts it out, and likewise he who does not in the beginning nurse his wrath and does not puff himself up with anger takes precautions against it and destroys it.
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It is part of a good man to do great and noble deeds, though he risk everything.
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Vos vestros servate, meos mihi linquite mores You keep to your own ways, and leave mine to me.
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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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For the mind does not require filling like a bottle, but rather, like wood, it only requires kindling to create in it an impulse to think independently and an ardent desire for the truth.
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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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Julius Caesar divorced his wife Pompeia, but declared at the trial that he knew nothing of what was alleged against her and Clodius. When asked why, in that case, he had divorced her, he replied: Because I would have the chastity of my wife clear even of suspicion.
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It were better to have no opinion of God at all than such a one as is unworthy of him; for the one is only belief - the other contempt.
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When Darius offered him ten thousand talents, and to divide Asia equally with him, 'I would accept it,' said Parmenio, 'were I Alexander.' 'And so truly would I,' said Alexander, 'if I were Parmenio.' But he answered Darius that the earth could not bear two suns, nor Asia two kings.
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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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A prating barber asked Archelaus how he would be trimmed. He answered, 'In silence.'
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Reason speaks and feeling bites.
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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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Being conscious of having done a wicked action leaves stings of remorse behind it, which, like an ulcer in the flesh, makes the mind smart with perpetual wounds; for reason, which chases away all other pains, creates repentance, shames the soul with confusion, and punishes it with torment.
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A physician, after he had felt the pulse of Pausanias, and considered his constitution, saying, 'He ails nothing,' 'It is because, sir,' he replied, 'I use none of your physic.'
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Solon being asked, namely, what city was best to live in. That city, he replied, in which those who are not wronged, no less than those who are wronged, exert themselves to punish the wrongdoers.
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As bees extract honey from thyme, the strongest and driest of herbs, so sensible men often get advantage and profit from the most awkward circumstances.
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So long as he was personally present, [Alcibiades] had the perfect mastery of his political adversaries; calumny only succeeded in his absence.
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Where two discourse, if the anger of one rises, he is the wise man who lets the contest fall.