Plutarch Quotes (251 quotes) | Quotes of famous people

Moralia, Of the Training of Children
Variant: 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.

“Neither blame or praise yourself.”

Plutarch

“Books delight to the very marrow of one's bones. They speak to us, consult with us, and join with us in a living and intense intimacy.”

Plutarch

“Of all the disorders in the soul, envy is the only one no one confesses to.”

Plutarch

“It is a desirable thing to be well descended, but the glory belongs to our ancestors.”

Plutarch book Moralia

8
Moralia, Of the Training of Children

“Character is simply habit long continued.”

Plutarch

“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.”

Plutarch book Moralia

I, 4
Moralia, Of Eating of Flesh
Context: 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. And then we fancy that the voices it utters and screams forth to us are nothing else but certain inarticulate sounds and noises, and not the several deprecations, entreaties, and pleadings of each of them.

“Music, to create harmony, must investigate discord.”

Plutarch

“Courage stands halfway between cowardice and rashness, one of which is a lack, the other an excess of courage.”

Plutarch

“It is a thing of no great difficulty to raise objections against another man's oration,—nay, it is a very easy matter; but to produce a better in its place is a work extremely troublesome.”

Plutarch book Parallel Lives

Of Hearing, 6
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
Source: Parallel Lives

“In words are seen the state of mind and character and disposition of the speaker.”

Plutarch

“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

Life of Pompey
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

“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

Of Demaratus
Laconic Apophthegms

“A very bold political measure of Lycurgus is his redistribution of the land. For there was a dreadful inequality in this regard, the city was heavily burdened with indigent and helpless people, and wealth was wholly concentrated in the hands of a few. Determined, therefore, to banish insolence and envy and crime and luxury, and those yet more deep-seated and afflictive diseases of the state, poverty and wealth, he persuaded his fellow-citizens to make one parcel of all their territory and divide it up anew, and to live with one another on a basis of entire uniformity and equality in the means of subsistence, seeking preëminence through virtue alone, assured that there was no other difference or inequality between man and man than that which was established by blame for base actions and praise for good ones.”

Plutarch book Parallel Lives

Lycurgus, sec. 8. The bolded phrase is often quoted in a paraphrase by Ugo Foscolo: "Wealth and poverty are the oldest and most deadly ailments of all republics" (Le ricchezze e la povertà sono le più antiche e mortali infermità delle repubbliche), Monitore Italiano, 5 February 1798.
Parallel Lives

“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

Life of Themistocles

“Lysander said, "Where the lion's skin will not reach, it must be pieced with the fox's."”

Plutarch

60 Lysander
Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders

“After the battle in Pharsalia, when Pompey was fled, one Nonius said they had seven eagles left still, and advised to try what they would do. "Your advice," said Cicero, "were good if we were to fight jackdaws."”

Plutarch

Cicero
Roman Apophthegms

“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

Consolation to Apollonius

“From Themistocles began the saying, "He is a second Hercules."”

Plutarch

Life of Theseus, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

“Even a nod from a person who is esteemed is of more force than a thousand arguments or studied sentences from others.”

Plutarch

Life of Phocion
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

“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

Life of Theseus, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

“Pythias once, scoffing at Demosthenes, said that his arguments smelt of the lamp.”

Plutarch

Life of Demosthenes
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

“When Hermodotus in his poems described Antigonus as the son of Helios, "My valet-de-chambre," said he, "is not aware of this."”

Plutarch

Of Isis and Osiris
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

“To Harmodius, descended from the ancient Harmodius, when he reviled Iphicrates [a shoemaker's son] for his mean birth, "My nobility," said he, "begins in me, but yours ends in you."”

Plutarch

54 Iphicrates
Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders

“Pompey bade Sylla recollect that more worshipped the rising than the setting sun.”

Plutarch

Life of Pompey
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

“So very difficult a matter is it to trace and find out the truth of anything by history.”

Plutarch book Parallel Lives

Parallel Lives, Pericles

“Empire may be gained by gold, not gold by empire. It used, indeed, to be a proverb that "It is not Philip, but Philip's gold that takes the cities of Greece."”

Plutarch book Parallel Lives

Aemilius, sec. 12
Parallel Lives

“As Cæsar was at supper the discourse was of death,—which sort was the best. "That," said he, "which is unexpected."”

Plutarch

Cæsar
Roman Apophthegms

“Have in readiness this saying of Solon, "But we will not give up our virtue in exchange for their wealth."”

Plutarch

How to profit by our Enemies
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

“The old proverb was now made good, "the mountain had brought forth a mouse."”

Plutarch

Life of Agesilaus II
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

“Said Scopas of Thessaly, "We rich men count our felicity and happiness to lie in these superfluities, and not in those necessary things."”

Plutarch

Of the Love of Wealth
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

“Spintharus, speaking in commendation of Epaminondas, says he scarce ever met with any man who knew more and spoke less.”

Plutarch

Of Hearing, 6
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

“Lampis, the sea commander, being asked how he got his wealth, answered, "My greatest estate I gained easily enough, but the smaller slowly and with much labour."”

Plutarch

Whether an Aged Man ought to meddle in State Affairs
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

“Xenophanes said, "I confess myself the greatest coward in the world, for I dare not do an ill thing."”

Plutarch

Of Bashfulness
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

“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 book Parallel Lives

Sertorius, sec. 16
Parallel Lives

“Epaminondas is reported wittily to have said of a good man that died about the time of the battle of Leuctra, "How came he to have so much leisure as to die, when there was so much stirring?"”

Plutarch

Rules for the Preservation of Health, 25
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

“I am whatever was, or is, or will be; and my veil no mortal ever took up.”

Plutarch

Of Isis and Osiris
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

“Philip being arbitrator betwixt two wicked persons, he commanded one to fly out of Macedonia and the other to pursue him.”

Plutarch

36 Philip
Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders

“Moral good is a practical stimulus; it is no sooner seen than it inspires an impulse to practise.”

Plutarch book Parallel Lives

Parallel Lives, Pericles

“The most glorious exploits do not always furnish us with the clearest discoveries of virtue or vice in men.”

Plutarch

Life of Alexander
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

“Democritus said, words are but the shadows of actions.”

Plutarch book Moralia

Moralia, Of the Training of Children

“Thus our judgments, if they do not borrow from reason and philosophy a fixity and steadiness of purpose in their acts, are easily swayed and influenced by the praise or blame of others, which make us distrust our own opinions.”

Plutarch book Parallel Lives

Timoleon, sec. 6
Parallel Lives

“By the study of their biographies, we receive each man as a guest into our minds, and we seem to understand their character as the result of a personal acquaintance, because we have obtained from their acts the best and most important means of forming an opinion about them. "What greater pleasure could'st thou gain than this?"”

Plutarch book Parallel Lives

What more valuable for the elevation of our own character?
Timoleon
Parallel Lives

“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

Of Lysander
Laconic Apophthegms

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