Plutarch Quotes

277 Sourced Quotes

It is not histories I am writing, but lives; and in the most glorious deeds there is not always an indication of virtue or vice, indeed a small thing like a phrase or a jest often makes a greater revelation of a character than battles where thousands die.

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

Plutarch
I for my part do much wonder in what humor, with what soul or reason, the first man with his mouth touched slaughter, and reached to his lips the flesh of a dead animal, and having set before people courses of ghastly corpses and ghosts, could give those parts the names of meat and victuals, that but a little before lowed, cried, moved, and saw; how his sight could endure the blood of slaughtered, flayed, and mangled bodies; how his smell could bear their scent; and how the very nastiness happened not to offend the taste, while it chewed the sores of others, and participated of the saps and juices of deadly wounds.

Plutarch
Certainly the people's insistence that their candidates should present themselves ungirt and without a tunic had nothing to do with any suspicion of bribery, for it was not until long afterwards that the abuse of buying and selling votes crept in and money began to play an important part in determining the elections. Later on, however, this process of corruption spread to the law courts and to the army, and finally, when even the sword became enslaved by the power of gold, the republic was subjected to the rule of the emperors. For it has rightly been said that the man who first offers banquets and bribes to the people is the first to destroy their liberties.

Plutarch
The obligations of law and equity reach only to mankind; but kindness and beneficence should be extended to the creatures of every species, and these will flow from the breast of a true man, as streams that issue from the living fountain.

Plutarch
To be ignorant of the lives of the most celebrated men of antiquity is to continue in a state of childhood all our days.

Plutarch
I am writing biography, not history, and the truth is that the most brilliant exploits often tell us nothing of the virtues or vices of the men who performed them, while on the other hand a chance remark or a joke may reveal far more of a man's character than the mere feat of winning battles in which thousands fall, or of marshalling great armies, or laying siege to cities.

Plutarch
Being about to pitch his camp in a likely place, and hearing there was no hay to be had for the cattle, "What a life," said he, "is ours, since we must live according to the convenience of asses!"

Plutarch
Silence at the proper season is wisdom, and better than any speech.

Plutarch
"And this," said Caesar, "you know, young man, is more disagreeable for me to say than to do."

Plutarch
King Agis said, "The Lacedaemonians are not wont to ask how many, but where the enemy are."

Plutarch
We are more sensible of what is done against custom than against Nature.

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

Plutarch
When Demosthenes was asked what was the first part of oratory, he answered, "Action;" and which was the second, he replied, "Action;" and which was the third, he still answered, "Action."

Plutarch
Extraordinary rains pretty generally fall after great battles.

Plutarch
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
Thrasyllus the Cynic begged a drachm of Antigonus. "That," said he, "is too little for a king to give." "Why, then," said the other, "give me a talent." "And that," said he, "is too much for a Cynic (or, for a dog) to receive."

Plutarch
Both Empedocles and Heraclitus held it for a truth that man could not be altogether cleared from injustice in dealing with beasts as he now does.

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

Plutarch
Anacharsis said a man's felicity consists not in the outward and visible favours and blessings of Fortune, but in the inward and unseen perfections and riches of the mind.

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

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

Plutarch
Socrates said, "Bad men live that they may eat and drink, whereas good men eat and drink that they may live."

Plutarch
For to err in opinion, though it be not the part of wise men, is at least human.

Plutarch
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
Good fortune will elevate even petty minds, and give them the appearance of a certain greatness and stateliness, as from their high place they look down upon the world; but the truly noble and resolved spirit raises itself, and becomes more conspicuous in times of disaster and ill fortune.

Plutarch
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
These are the materials for reflection which history affords to those who choose to make use of them.

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

Plutarch
It is wise to be silent when occasion requires, and better than to speak, though never so well.

Plutarch