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“Said Periander, "Hesiod might as well have kept his breath to cool his pottage."”

The Banquet of the Seven Wise Men, 14
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

“Lamachus chid a captain for a fault; and when he had said he would do so no more, "Sir," said he, "in war there is no room for a second miscarriage." Said one to Iphicrates, "What are ye afraid of?" "Of all speeches," said he, "none is so dishonourable for a general as ‘I should not have thought of it.'"”

Plutarch

52 Iphicrates
Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders

“Statesmen are not only liable to give an account of what they say or do in public, but there is a busy inquiry made into their very meals, beds, marriages, and every other sportive or serious action.”

Plutarch

Political Precepts
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

“What spectator… would not exclaim… that through Fortune the foreign host was prevailing beyond its deserts, but through Virtue the Hellenes were holding out beyond their ability? And if the ones (i. e., the enemy) gains the upper hand, this will be the work of Fortune or of some jealous deity or of divine retribution; but if the others (i. e., the Greeks) prevail, it will be Virtue and daring, friendship and fidelity, that will win the guerdon of victory? These were, in fact, the only support that Alexander had with him at this time, since Fortune had put a barrier between him and the rest of his forces and equipment, fleets, horse, and camp. Finally, the Macedonians routed the barbarians, and, when they had fallen, pulled down their city on their heads.”

Plutarch book Moralia

On the Fortune of Alexander, II, 344 e-f, Loeb
Moralia, Others

“T is a wise saying, Drive on your own track.”

Plutarch book Moralia

Moralia, Of the Training of Children

“Pythagoras, when he was asked what time was, answered that it was the soul of this world.”

Plutarch

Platonic Questions, viii, 4
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

“The most perfect soul, says Heraclitus, is a dry light, which flies out of the body as lightning breaks from a cloud.”

Plutarch

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

“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

Of Plistarchus
Laconic Apophthegms

“Marius said, "I see the cure is not worth the pain."”

Plutarch

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

“Whenever Alexander heard Philip had taken any town of importance, or won any signal victory, instead of rejoicing at it altogether, he would tell his companions that his father would anticipate everything, and leave him and them no opportunities of performing great and illustrious actions.”

Plutarch

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

“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

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

“To conduct great matters and never commit a fault is above the force of human nature.”

Plutarch

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

“The very spring and root of honesty and virtue lie in the felicity of lighting on good education.”

Plutarch book Moralia

Moralia, Of the Training of Children
Variant: The very spring and root of honesty and virtue lie in good education.

“What meal is not expensive? That for which no animal is put to death. … one participating of feeling, of seeing, of hearing, of imagination, and of intellection; which each animal hath received from Nature for the acquiring of what is agreeable to it, and the avoiding what is disagreeable.”

Plutarch book Moralia

II, 3
Moralia, Of Eating of Flesh

“I, for my own part, had much rather people should say of me that there neither is nor ever was such a man as Plutarch, than that they should say, "Plutarch is an unsteady, fickle, froward, vindictive, and touchy fellow."”

Plutarch

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

“And it is said that when he took his seat for the first time under the golden canopy on the royal throne, Demaratus the Corinthian, a well-meaning man and a friend of Alexander's, as he had been of Alexander's father, burst into tears, as old men will, and declared that those Hellenes were deprived of great pleasure who had died before seeing Alexander seated on the throne of Dareius.”

Plutarch book Parallel Lives

Alexander, 37, 7 (Loeb)
Parallel Lives

“Eat not thy heart; which forbids to afflict our souls, and waste them with vexatious cares.”

Plutarch book Moralia

Moralia, Of the Training of Children

“And Archimedes, as he was washing, thought of a manner of computing the proportion of gold in King Hiero's crown by seeing the water flowing over the bathing-stool. He leaped up as one possessed or inspired, crying, "I have found it! Eureka!"”

Plutarch

Pleasure not attainable according to Epicurus, 11
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

“Pyrrhus said, "If I should overcome the Romans in another fight, I were undone."”

Plutarch

47 Pyrrhus
Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders

“Cicero called Aristotle a river of flowing gold, and said of Plato's Dialogues, that if Jupiter were to speak, it would be in language like theirs.”

Plutarch

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