Plutarch Quotes
b. 120 Greece
Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus (c. 46 – 120) was a Greek historian, biographer, and essayist.
- Greece
- Historians
- Philosophers
Random Plutarch quote
116 quotes
"Young men," said Cæsar, "hear an old man to whom old men hearkened when he was young."
To do an evil action is base; to do a good action without incurring danger is common enough; but it is the part of a good man to do great and noble deeds, though he risks every thing.
When Eudæmonidas heard a philosopher arguing that only a wise man can be a good general, "This is a wonderful speech," said he; "but he that saith it never heard the sound of trumpets."
It is true, indeed, of all just and good men, that they are praised more after they have left the world than before, since envy does not long survive them, and some even see it die before them.
Cicero said loud-bawling orators were driven by their weakness to noise, as lame men to take horse.
King Agis said, "The Lacedæmonians are not wont to ask how many, but where the enemy are."
We ought not to treat living creatures like shoes or household belongings, which when worn with use we throw away.
I have heard that Tiberius used to say that that man was ridiculous, who after sixty years, appealed to a physician.
Cato requested old men not to add the disgrace of wickedness to old age, which was accompanied with many other evils.
Pyrrhus said, "If I should overcome the Romans in another fight, I were undone."
Socrates said he was not an Athenian or a Greek, but a citizen of the world.
A soldier told Pelopidas, "We are fallen among the enemies." Said he, "How are we fallen among them more than they among us?"
Why does pouring Oil on the Sea make it Clear and Calm? Is it for that the winds, slipping the smooth oil, have no force, nor cause any waves?
Cato the elder wondered how that city was preserved wherein a fish was sold for more than an ox.
He who first called money the sinews of the state seems to have said this with special reference to war.
In their declamations and speeches they made use of words to veil and muffle their design.
The measure of a man's life is the well spending of it, and not the length.
The mind is not a vessel that needs filling, but wood that needs igniting.
The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled.
Said Scopas of Thessaly, "But we rich men count our felicity and happiness to lie in these superfluities, and not in those necessary things."