Plutarch Quotes
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The ripeness of adolescence is prodigal in pleasures, skittish, and in need of a bridle.
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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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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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Wise men are able to make a fitting use even of their enmities.
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Reason speaks and feeling bites.
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Socrates thought that if all our misfortunes were laid in one common heap, whence every one must take an equal portion, most persons would be contented to take their own and depart.
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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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The real destroyer of the liberties of the people is he who spreads among them bounties, donations and benefits.
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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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For the wise man, every day is a festival.
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Instead of using medicine, better fast today.
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Nature without learning is blind, learning apart from nature is fractional, and practice in the absence of both is aimless.
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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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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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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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Our senses through ignorance of Reality, falsely tell us that what appears to be, is. FEAR = False Evidence Appearing Real.
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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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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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It is part of a good man to do great and noble deeds, though he risk everything.
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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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Nothing is harder to direct than a man in prosperity; nothing more easily managed that one is adversity.
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The whole of life is but a moment of time. It is our duty, therefore to use it, not to misuse it.
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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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I would rather excel in the knowledge of what is excellent, than in the extent of my power and possessions.