Plutarch Quotes
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I am all that hath been, and is, and shall be; and my veil no mortal has hitherto raised.
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Forgetfulness transforms every occurrence into a non-occurrence.
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τὸ μὲν ἁμαρτεῖν μηδὲν ἐν πράγμασι μεγάλοις μεῖζον ἢ κατ' ἄνθρωπόν ἐστι...
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Were it only to learn benevolence to humankind, we should be merciful to other creatures.
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The authors of great evils know best how to remove them.
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The most perfect soul, says Heraclitus, is a dry light, which flies out of the body as lightning breaks from a cloud.
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The general himself ought to be such a one as can at the same time see both forward and backward.
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When some were saying that if Cæsar should march against the city they could not see what forces there were to resist him, Pompey replied with a smile, bidding them be in no concern, 'for whenever I stamp my foot in any part of Italy there will rise up forces enough in an instant, both horse and foot.'
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Those are greedy of praise prove that they are poor in merit.
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After the battle in Pharsalia, when Pompey was fled, one Nonius said they had seven eagles left still, and advised to try what they would do. 'Your advice,' said Cicero, 'were good if we were to fight jackdaws.'
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We ought to regard books as we do sweetmeats, not wholly to aim at the pleasantest, but chiefly to respect the wholesomest; not forbidding either, but approving the latter most.
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'These Macedonians,' said he, 'are a rude and clownish people, that call a spade a spade.'
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It is the admirer of himself, and not the admirer of virtue, that thinks himself superior to others.
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Men who marry wives very much superior to themselves are not so truly husbands to their wives as they are unawares made slaves to their position.
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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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Politics is not like an ocean voyage or a military campaign... something which leaves off as soon as reached. It is not a public chore to be gotten over with. It is a way of life.
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Wickedness frames the engines of her own torment. She is a wonderful artisan of a miserable life.
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Character is simply habit long continued.
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We rich men count our felicity and happiness to lie in these superfluities, and not in those necessary things.
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Seeing the lightest and gayest purple was then most in fashion, he would always wear that which was the nearest black; and he would often go out of doors, after his morning meal, without either shoes or tunic; not that he sought vain-glory from such novelties, but he would accustom himself to be ashamed only of what deserves shame, and to despise all other sorts of disgrace.
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The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled.
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To Harmodius, descended from the ancient Harmodius, when he reviled Iphicrates a shoemaker's son for his mean birth, 'My nobility,' said he, 'begins in me, but yours ends in you.'
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Empire may be gained by gold, not gold by empire. It used, indeed, to be a proverb that 'It is not Philip, but Philip's gold that takes the cities of Greece.'
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The omission of good is no less reprehensible than the commission of evil.