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Plutarch Quotes
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Plutarch , later named, upon becoming a Roman citizen, Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus, was a Greek biographer and essayist, known primarily for his Parallel Lives and Moralia.

He is classified as a Middle Platonist. Plutarch's surviving works were written in Greek, but intended for both Greek and Roman readers. Wikipedia  

✵ 46 AC – 127   •   Other names Plútarchos z Chairóneie
Plutarch photo
Plutarch: 251   quotes 14   likes

Plutarch Quotes

“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

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

Fight

“Cato the elder wondered how that city was preserved wherein a fish was sold for more than an ox.”

Plutarch

Cato the Elder
Roman Apophthegms

Fish

“Alexander wept when he heard from Anaxarchus that there was an infinite number of worlds; and his friends asking him if any accident had befallen him, he returns this answer: "Do you not think it a matter worthy of lamentation that when there is such a vast multitude of them, we have not yet conquered one?"”

Plutarch

On the Tranquillity of the Mind
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

World , Thinking

“It is not reasonable that he who does not shoot should hit the mark, nor that he who does not stand fast at his post should win the day, or that the helpless man should succeed or the coward prosper.”

Plutarch book Parallel Lives

Aemilius, sec. 19
Parallel Lives

“Extraordinary rains pretty generally fall after great battles.”

Plutarch

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

“As Meander says, "For our mind is God;" and as Heraclitus, "Man's genius is a deity."”

Plutarch

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

God

“He preferred an honest man that wooed his daughter, before a rich man. "I would rather," said Themistocles, "have a man that wants money than money that wants a man."”

Plutarch

49 Themistocles
Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders

Money , Daughters

“I will show," said Agesilaus, "that it is not the places that grace men, but men the places.”

Plutarch

Of Agesilaus the Great
Laconic Apophthegms

Men

“A prating barber asked Archelaus how he would be trimmed. He answered, "In silence."”

Plutarch

33 Archelaus
Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders

Silence

“Pittacus said, "Every one of you hath his particular plague, and my wife is mine; and he is very happy who hath this only."”

Plutarch

On the Tranquillity of the Mind
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

Happiness

“When the candles are out all women are fair.”

Plutarch book Moralia

Conjugal Precepts
Moralia, Others

Women

“What is bigger than an elephant? But this also is become man's plaything, and a spectacle at public solemnities; and it learns to skip, dance, and kneel.”

Plutarch

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

Learning , Dance

“Demosthenes overcame and rendered more distinct his inarticulate and stammering pronunciation by speaking with pebbles in his mouth.”

Plutarch

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

“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

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

“As those persons who despair of ever being rich make little account of small expenses, thinking that little added to a little will never make any great sum.”

Plutarch

Of Man's Progress in Virtue
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

Thinking , Personality , Despair

“It is circumstance and proper measure that give an action its character, and make it either good or bad.”

Plutarch

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

“That proverbial saying, "Ill news goes quick and far."”

Plutarch

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

“The general himself ought to be such a one as can at the same time see both forward and backward.”

Plutarch

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

Time

“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

Life of Themistocles

Children

“And when the physician said, "Sir, you are an old man," "That happens," replied Pausanias, "because you never were my doctor."”

Plutarch

Of Pausanias the Son of Phistoanax
Laconic Apophthegms

“When Alexander asked Diogenes whether he wanted anything, "Yes," said he, "I would have you stand from between me and the sun."”

Plutarch

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

Sun

“Alexander was wont to say, "Were I not Alexander, I would be Diogenes."”

Plutarch

Of the Fortune or Virtue of Alexander the Great
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

“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

Consolation to Apollonius

Life , Night

“It is a true proverb, that if you live with a lame man, you will learn a limp.”

Plutarch book Moralia

Moralia, Of the Training of Children

Learning

“Antiphanes said merrily that in a certain city the cold was so intense that words were congealed as soon as spoken, but that after some time they thawed and became audible; so that the words spoken in winter articulated next summer.”

Plutarch book Moralia

Of Man's Progress in Virtue
Moralia, Others

Winter , Time , Summer

“Cicero said loud-bawling orators were driven by their weakness to noise, as lame men to take horse.”

Plutarch

Cicero
Roman Apophthegms

Men , Horse

“Rest gives relish to labour.”

Plutarch book Moralia

Moralia, Of the Training of Children

“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."”

Plutarch

62 Eudæmonidas
Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders

“Cæsar said to the soothsayer, "The ides of March are come;" who answered him calmly, "Yes, they are come, but they are not past."”

Plutarch book Parallel Lives

Parallel Lives, Caesar

Past

“In his house he had a large looking-glass, before which he would stand and go through his exercises.”

Plutarch

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

Exercises , Housing

“Simonides calls painting silent poetry, and poetry speaking painting.”

Plutarch

Whether the Athenians were more Warlike or Learned, 3
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

Painting

“Remember what Simonides said,—that he never repented that he had held his tongue, but often that he had spoken.”

Plutarch

Rules for the Preservation of Health, 7
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

“He that first started that doctrine, that knavery is the best defense against a knave, was but an ill teacher, advising us to commit wickedness to secure ourselves.”

Plutarch book Moralia

Of Bashfulness; on Zeno
Moralia, Others

Teachers

“When asked why he parted with his wife, Cæsar replied, "I wished my wife to be not so much as suspected."”

Plutarch book Parallel Lives

Parallel Lives, Caesar

Parting

“A remorseful change of mind renders even a noble action base, whereas the determination which is grounded on knowledge and reason cannot change even if its actions fail.”

Plutarch book Parallel Lives

Timoleon, sec. 6
Parallel Lives

Knowledge , Change

“It is a difficult thing for a man to resist the natural necessity of mortal passions.”

Plutarch

Of those whom God is slow to punish
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

Nature , Passion

“Knowledge of divine things for the most part, as Heraclitus says, is lost to us by incredulity.”

Plutarch

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

Knowledge , Parting

“No man ever wetted clay and then left it, as if there would be bricks by chance and fortune.”

Plutarch

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

Chance

“Once when Phocion had delivered an opinion which pleased the people,… he turned to his friend and said, "Have I not unawares spoken some mischievous thing or other?"”

Plutarch

55 Phocion
Apophthegms of Kings and Great Commanders

People

“An old doting fool, with one foot already in the grave.”

Plutarch book Moralia

Moralia, Of the Training of Children

Fools

“Children are to be won to follow liberal studies by exhortations and rational motives, and on no account to be forced thereto by whipping.”

Plutarch book Moralia

Moralia, Of the Training of Children

Children , Motivation , Study

“There is no debt with so much prejudice put off as that of justice.”

Plutarch

Of those whom God is slow to punish
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

Justice

“Euripides was wont to say, "Silence is an answer to a wise man."”

Plutarch

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

Silence

“All men whilst they are awake are in one common world; but each of them, when he is asleep, is in a world of his own.”

Plutarch book Moralia

Of Superstition.
Attributed to Heraclitus, Frag. 89
Moralia, Others

Men , World

“He is a fool who leaves things close at hand to follow what is out of reach.”

Plutarch book Moralia

Of Garrulity.
Attributed to Hesiod, Frag. 219
Moralia, Others

Fools

“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."”

Plutarch

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

Sense , Rage

“He is a fool who lets slip a bird in the hand for a bird in the bush.”

Plutarch

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

Fools , Bird

“He said they that were serious in ridiculous matters would be ridiculous in serious affairs.”

Plutarch

Cato the Elder
Roman Apophthegms

“We see that kindness or humanity has a larger field than bare justice to exercise itself in; law and justice we cannot, in the nature of things, employ on others than men; but we may extend our goodness and charity even to irrational creatures; and such acts flow from a gentle nature, as water from an abundant spring. It is doubtless the part of a kind-natured man to keep even worn-out horses and dogs, and not only take care of them when they are foals and whelps, but also when they are grown old.”

Plutarch book Parallel Lives

Marcus Cato (Dryden translation)
Parallel Lives

Men , Justice , Law , Dogs