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Plutarch
225 quotes
“About Pontus there are some creatures of such an extempore being that the whole term of their life is confined within the space of a day; for they are brought forth in the morning, are in the prime of their existence at noon, grow old at night, and then die.”
Plutarch (40–120) said by 120 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The measure of a man's life is the well spending of it, and not the length.”
Plutarch (40–120) said by 120 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“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.”
Plutarch (40–120) said by 120 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There are two sentences inscribed upon the Delphic oracle, hugely accommodated to the usages of man's life: "Know thyself," and "Nothing too much;" and upon these all other precepts depend.”
Plutarch (40–120) said by 120 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To one commending an orator for his skill in amplifying petty matters, Agesilaus said, "I do not think that shoemaker a good workman that makes a great shoe for a little foot.”
Plutarch (40–120) said by 120 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I will show," said Agesilaus, "that it is not the places that grace men, but men the places.”
Plutarch (40–120) said by 120 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When one asked him what boys should learn, "That," said he, "which they shall use when men.”
Plutarch (40–120) said by 120 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Agesilaus was very fond of his children; and it is reported that once toying with them he got astride upon a reed as upon a horse, and rode about the room; and being seen by one of his friends, he desired him not to speak of it till he had children of his own.”
Plutarch (40–120) said by 120 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When Demaratus was asked whether he held his tongue because he was a fool or for want of words, he replied, "A fool cannot hold his tongue.”
Plutarch (40–120) said by 120 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Lysander, when Dionysius sent him two gowns, and bade him choose which he would carry to his daughter, said, "She can choose best," and so took both away with him.”
Plutarch (40–120) said by 120 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A physician, after he had felt the pulse of Pausanias, and considered his constitution, saying, "He ails nothing," "It is because, sir," he replied, "I use none of your physic.”
Plutarch (40–120) said by 120 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“And when the physician said, "Sir, you are an old man," "That happens," replied Pausanias, "because you never were my doctor.”
Plutarch (40–120) said by 120 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When one told Plistarchus that a notorious railer spoke well of him, "I 'll lay my life," said he, "somebody hath told him I am dead, for he can speak well of no man living.”
Plutarch (40–120) said by 120 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“As geographers, Sosius, crowd into the edges of their maps parts of the world which they do not know about, adding notes in the margin to the effect that beyond this lies nothing but sandy deserts full of wild beasts, and unapproachable bogs.”
Plutarch (40–120) said by 120 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“From Themistocles began the saying, "He is a second Hercules.”
Plutarch (40–120) said by 120 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“The most perfect soul, says Heraclitus, is a dry light, which flies out of the body as lightning breaks from a cloud.”
Plutarch (40–120) said by 120 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Anacharsis coming to Athens, knocked at Solon's door, and told him that he, being a stranger, was come to be his guest, and contract a friendship with him; and Solon replying, "It is better to make friends at home," Anacharsis replied, "Then you that are at home make friendship with me.”
Plutarch (40–120) said by 120 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Themistocles said that he certainly could not make use of any stringed instrument; could only, were a small and obscure city put into his hands, make it great and glorious.”
Plutarch (40–120) said by 120 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Eurybiades lifting up his staff as if he were going to strike, Themistocles said, "Strike, if you will; but hear.”
Plutarch (40–120) said by 120 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Themistocles said to Antiphales, "Time, young man, has taught us both a lesson.”
Plutarch (40–120) said by 120 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Laughing at his own son, who got his mother, and by his mother's means his father also, to indulge him, he told him that he had the most power of any one in Greece: "For the Athenians command the rest of Greece, I command the Athenians, your mother commands me, and you command your mother.”
Plutarch (40–120) said by 120 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“You speak truth," said Themistocles; "I should never have been famous if I had been of Seriphus; nor you, had you been of Athens.”
Plutarch (40–120) said by 120 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Themistocles said that a man's discourse was like to a rich Persian carpet, the beautiful figures and patterns of which can be shown only by spreading and extending it out; when it is contracted and folded up, they are obscured and lost.”
Plutarch (40–120) said by 120 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“When he was in great prosperity, and courted by many, seeing himself splendidly served at his table, he turned to his children and said: "Children, we had been undone, if we had not been undone.”
Plutarch (40–120) said by 120 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Moral good is a practical stimulus; it is no sooner seen than it inspires an impulse to practise.”
Plutarch (40–120) said by 120 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“For ease and speed in doing a thing do not give the work lasting solidity or exactness of beauty.”
Plutarch (40–120) said by 120 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“So very difficult a matter is it to trace and find out the truth of anything by history.”
Plutarch (40–120) said by 120 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Be ruled by time, the wisest counsellor of all.”
Plutarch (40–120) said by 120 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“To conduct great matters and never commit a fault is above the force of human nature.”
Plutarch (40–120) said by 120 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“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.”
Plutarch (40–120) said by 120 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Knowledge of divine things for the most part, as Heraclitus says, is lost to us by incredulity.”
Plutarch (40–120) said by 120 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“A Roman divorced from his wife, being highly blamed by his friends, who demanded, "Was she not chaste? Was she not fair? Was she not fruitful?" holding out his shoe, asked them whether it was not new and well made. "Yet," added he, "none of you can tell where it pinches me.”
Plutarch (40–120) said by 120 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“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?”
Plutarch (40–120) said by 120 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Archimedes had stated, that given the force, any given weight might be moved; and even boasted that if there were another earth, by going into it he could remove this.”
Plutarch (40–120) said by 120 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“It is a difficult task, O citizens, to make speeches to the belly, which has no ears.”
Plutarch (40–120) said by 120 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Cato used to assert that wise men profited more by fools than fools by wise men; for that wise men avoided the faults of fools, but that fools would not imitate the good examples of wise men.”
Plutarch (40–120) said by 120 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“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.”
Plutarch (40–120) said by 120 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Marius said, "I see the cure is not worth the pain.”
Plutarch (40–120) said by 120 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Extraordinary rains pretty generally fall after great battles.”
Plutarch (40–120) said by 120 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Lysander said that the law spoke too softly to be heard in such a noise of war.”
Plutarch (40–120) said by 120 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“As it is in the proverb, played Cretan against Cretan.”
Plutarch (40–120) said by 120 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Did you not know, then, that to-day Lucullus sups with Lucullus?”
Plutarch (40–120) said by 120 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“It is no great wonder if in long process of time, while fortune takes her course hither and thither, numerous coincidences should spontaneously occur. If the number and variety of subjects to be wrought upon be infinite, it is all the more easy for fortune, with such an abundance of material, to effect this similarity of results.”
Plutarch (40–120) said by 120 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“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.”
Plutarch (40–120) said by 120 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Agesilaus being invited once to hear a man who admirably imitated the nightingale, he declined, saying he had heard the nightingale itself.”
Plutarch (40–120) said by 120 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“It is circumstance and proper measure that give an action its character, and make it either good or bad.”
Plutarch (40–120) said by 120 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“The old proverb was now made good, "the mountain had brought forth a mouse.”
Plutarch (40–120) said by 120 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“Pompey bade Sylla recollect that more worshipped the rising than the setting sun.”
Plutarch (40–120) said by 120 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“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.”
Plutarch (40–120) said by 120 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source
“The most glorious exploits do not always furnish us with the clearest discoveries of virtue or vice in men.”
Plutarch (40–120) said by 120 at the latest bartlett, Public domain source