Plutarch Quotes
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Sometimes small incidents, rather than glorious exploits, give us the best evidence of character. So, as portrait painters are more exact in doing the face, where the character is revealed, than the rest of the body, I must be allowed to give my more particular attention to the marks of the souls of men.
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Perseverance is more prevailing than violence; and many things which cannot be overcome when they are together, yield themselves up when taken little by little.
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The whole life of man is but a point of time; let us enjoy it, therefore, while it lasts, and not spend it to no purpose.
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For many, as Cranton tells us, and those very wise men, not now but long ago, have deplored the condition of human nature, esteeming life a punishment, and to be born a man the highest pitch of calamity; this, Aristotle tells us, Silenus declared when he was brought captive to Midas.
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Time which diminishes all things increases understanding for the aging.
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Such power I gave the people as might do, Abridged not what they had, now lavished new, Those that were great in wealth and high in place My counsel likewise kept from all disgrace. Before them both I held my shield of might, And let not either touch the other's right.
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King Agis said, "The Lacedaemonians are not wont to ask how many, but where the enemy are."
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Learn to be pleased with everything...because it could always be worse, but isn't!
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Lycurgus the Lacedaemonian brought long hair into fashion among his countrymen, saying that it rendered those that were handsome more beautiful, and those that were deformed more terrible. To one that advised him to set up a democracy in Sparta, 'Pray,' said Lycurgus, 'do you first set up a democracy in your own house.'
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He is a fool who lets slip a bird in the hand for a bird in the bush.
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But for the sake of some little mouthful of flesh we deprive a soul of the sun and light, and of that proportion of life and time it had been born into the world to enjoy.
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When Demosthenes was asked what was the first part of oratory, he answered, 'Action;' and which was the second, he replied, 'Action;' and which was the third, he still answered, 'Action.'
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Fate leads him who follows it, and drags him who resist.
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Water and our necessary food are the only things that wise men must fight for.
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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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Proper listening is the foundation of proper living.
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Lying is a most disgraceful vice; it first despises God, and then fears men.
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Go on, my friend, and fear nothing; you carry Cæsar and his fortunes in your boat.
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Of all the disorders in the soul, envy is the only one no one confesses to.
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Plato used to say to Xenocrates the philosopher, who was rough and morose, "Good Xenocrates, sacrifice to the Graces.
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He said they that were serious in ridiculous matters would be ridiculous in serious affairs.
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I confess myself the greatest coward in the world, for I dare not do an ill thing.
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Ease and speed in doing a thing do not give the work lasting solidity or exactness of beauty.
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What most of all enables a man to serve the public is not wealth, but content and independence; which, requiring no superfluity at home, distracts not the mind from the common good.