Quotes by Plutarch

"Prosperity is no just scale; adversity is the only balance to weigh friends."

Plutarch on adversity   

"Those who aim at great deeds must also suffer greatly."

Plutarch on adversity
3 fans of this quote   

"Not by lamentations and mournful chants ought we to celebrate the funeral of a good man, but by hymns, for in ceasing to be numbered with mortals he enters upon the heritage of a diviner life."

Plutarch on death   

"A Roman divorced from his wife, being highly blamed by his friends, who demanded, Was she not chaste? Was she not fair? Was she not fruitful? holding out his shoe, asked them whether it was not new and well made. Yet, added he, none of you can tell where it pinches me."

Plutarch on divorce   

"To make no mistakes is not in the power of man; but from their errors and mistakes the wise and good learn wisdom for the future."

Plutarch on failure
5 fans of this quote   

"Fate leads him who follows it, and drags him who resist."

Plutarch on fate
7 fans of this quote   

"Abstain from beans."

Plutarch on food and eating   

"It is indeed a desirable thing to be well-descended, but the glory belongs to our ancestors."

Plutarch on ancestry   

"Do not speak of your happiness to one less fortunate than yourself."

Plutarch on happiness   

"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 on history and historians   

"It is part of a good man to do great and noble deeds, though he risk everything."

Plutarch on integrity
3 fans of this quote   

"The measure of a man is the way he bears up under misfortune."

Plutarch on achievement
21 fans of this quote   

"They named it Ovation from the Latin ovis [A Sheep]."

Plutarch on applause   

"The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled."

Plutarch on mind   

"When the strong box contains no more both friends and flatterers shun the door."

Plutarch on money   

"Medicine to produce health must examine disease; and music, to create harmony must investigate discord."

Plutarch on music   

"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 on perseverance   

"Nothing is cheap which is superfluous, for what one does not need, is dear at a penny."

Plutarch on bargains   

"Someone praising a man for his foolhardy bravery, Cato, the elder, said, There is a wide difference between true courage and a mere contempt of life."

Plutarch on praise   

"Nothing is harder to direct than a man in prosperity; nothing more easily managed than one in adversity."

Plutarch on prosperity   

"The whole life is but a point of time; let us enjoy it, therefore, while it lasts, and not spend it to no purpose."

Plutarch on purpose   

"We ought not to treat living creatures like shoes or household belongings, which when worn with use we throw away."

Plutarch on respectability
5 fans of this quote   

"Rest is the sweet sauce of labor."

Plutarch on rest   

"To do an evil act is base. To do a good one without incurring danger, is common enough. But it is part of a good man to do great and noble deeds though he risks everything in doing them."

Plutarch on risk   

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

Plutarch on silence
3 fans of this quote   

"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 on sleep   

"The first evil those who are prone to talk suffer, is that they hear nothing."

Plutarch on speakers and speaking   

"Good birth is a fine thing, but the merit is our ancestors."

Plutarch on birth   

"To find a fault is easy; to do better may be difficult."

Plutarch on blame
9 fans of this quote   

"In human life there is constant change of fortune; and it is unreasonable to expect an exemption from the common fate. Life itself decays, and all things are daily changing."

Plutarch on change   

"Character is simply habit long continued."

Plutarch on character
4 fans of this quote   

"Time is the wisest of all counselors."

Plutarch on time   

"Distressed valor challenges great respect, even from an enemy."

Plutarch on valor   

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

Plutarch on words   

"When Demosthenes was asked what were the three most important aspects of oratory, he answered, Action, Action, Action."

Plutarch on action   

"The wildest colts make the best horses."

Plutarch on children   

"Learn to be pleased with everything; with wealth, so far as it makes us beneficial to others; with poverty, for not having much to care for; and with obscurity, for being unenvied."

Plutarch on contentment   

"Courage consists not in hazarding without fear; but being resolutely minded in a just cause."

Plutarch on courage
3 fans of this quote   

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

Plutarch on courage   

"Socrates said he was not an Athenian or a Greek, but a citizen of the world. "

Plutarch on uncategorised