Plutarch Quotes
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Demosthenes told Phocion, 'The Athenians will kill you some day when they once are in a rage.' 'And you,' said he, 'if they are once in their senses.'
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Menenius Agrippa concluded at length with the celebrated fable: 'It once happened that all the other members of a man mutinied against the stomach, which they accused as the only idle, uncontributing part in the whole body, while the rest were put to hardships and the expense of much labour to supply and minister to its appetites.'
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Dionysius the Elder, being asked whether he was at leisure, he replied, 'God forbid that it should ever befall me!'
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Fate, however, is to all appearance more unavoidable than unexpected.
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He said that in his whole life he most repented of three things: one was that he had trusted a secret to a woman; another, that he went by water when he might have gone by land; the third, that he had remained one whole day without doing any business of moment.
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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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Talkativeness has another plague attached to it, even curiosity; for praters wish to hear much that they may have much to say.
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When he was wounded with an arrow in the ankle, and many ran to him that were wont to call him a god, he said smiling, 'That is blood, as you see, and not, as Homer saith, ‘such humour as distils from blessed gods.''
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Alexander esteemed it more kingly to govern himself than to conquer his enemies.
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Education and study, and the favors of the muses, confer no greater benefit on those that seek them than these humanizing and civilizing lessons, which teach our natural qualities to submit to the limitations prescribed by reason, and to avoid the wildness of extremes.
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Learn to be pleased with everything...because it could always be worse, but isn't!
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Rome was in the most dangerous inclination to change on account of the unequal distribution of wealth and property, those of highest rank and greatest spirit having impoverished themselves by shows, entertainments, ambition of offices, and sumptuous buildings, and the riches of the city having thus fallen into the hands of mean and low-born persons. So that there wanted but a slight impetus to set all in motion, it being in the power of every daring man to overturn a sickly commonwealth.
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He who reflects on another man's want of breeding, shows he wants it as much himself.
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He said they that were serious in ridiculous matters would be ridiculous in serious affairs.
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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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Scilurus on his death-bed, being about to leave four-score sons surviving, offered a bundle of darts to each of them, and bade them break them. When all refused, drawing out one by one, he easily broke them,-thus teaching them that if they held together, they would continue strong; but if they fell out and were divided, they would become weak.
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The saying of old Antigonus, who when he was to fight at Andros, and one told him, 'The enemy's ships are more than ours,' replied, 'For how many then wilt thou reckon me?'
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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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Poverty is never dishonourable in itself, but only when it is a mark of sloth, intemperance, extravagance, or thoughtlessness. When, on the other hand, it is the handmaid of a sober, industrious, righteous, and brave man, who devotes all his powers to the service of the people, it is the sign of a lofty spirit that harbours no mean thoughts.
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We ought not to treat living creatures like shoes or household belongings, which when worn with use we throw away.
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It is circumstance and proper measure that give an action its character, and make it either good or bad.
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I had rather men should ask why my statue is not set up, than why it is.
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Among real friends there is no rivalry or jealousy of one another, but they are satisfied and contented alike whether they are equal or one of them is superior.
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The crowns of kings do not prevent those who wear them from being tormented sometimes by violent headaches.