Plutarch Quotes
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Euripides was wont to say, silence was an answer to a wise man; but we seem to have greater occasion for it in our dealing with fools and unreasonable persons; for men of breeding and sense will be satisfied with reason and fair words.
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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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Demosthenes overcame and rendered more distinct his inarticulate and stammering pronunciation by speaking with pebbles in his mouth.
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Eat not thy heart; which forbids to afflict our souls, and waste them with vexatious cares.
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Socrates said, 'Bad men live that they may eat and drink, whereas good men eat and drink that they may live.'
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A traveller at Sparta, standing long upon one leg, said to a Lacedaemonian, "I do not believe you can do as much." "True," said he, "but every goose can."
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Fortune had favoured me in this war that I feared, the rather, that some tempest would follow so favourable a gale.
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Character is simply habit long continued.
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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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The crowns of kings do not prevent those who wear them from being tormented sometimes by violent headaches.
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Lamentation is the only musician that always, like a screech-owl, alights and sits on the roof of any angry man.
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A warrior carries his shield for the sake of the entire line.
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Like watermen, who look astern while they row the boat ahead.
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Both Empedocles and Heraclitus held it for a truth that man could not be altogether cleared from injustice in dealing with beasts as he now does.
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Learn to be pleased with everything, with wealth so far as it makes us beneficial to others; with poverty, for not having much to care for; and with obscurity, for being unenvied.
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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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He shall fare well who confronts circumstances aright.
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Lycurgus the Lacedæmonian 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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As Athenodorus was taking his leave of Cæsar, 'Remember,' said he, 'Cæsar, whenever you are angry, to say or do nothing before you have repeated the four-and-twenty letters to yourself.'
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Using the proverb frequently in their mouths who enter upon dangerous and bold attempts, 'The die is cast,' he took the river.
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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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So very difficult a matter is it to trace and find out the truth of anything by history.
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When Demosthenes was asked what were the three most important aspects of oratory, he answered, 'Action, Action, Action.'