Plutarch Quotes

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

— Plutarch

Know how to listen, and you will profit even from those who talk badly.

— Plutarch

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

— Plutarch

“Being conscious of having done a wicked action leaves stings of remorse behind it, which, like an ulcer in the flesh, makes the mind smart with perpetual wounds; for reason, which chases away all other pains, creates repentance, shames the soul with confusion, and punishes it with torment.”

— Plutarch

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

— Plutarch

“Evidence of trust begets trust, and love is reciprocated by love.”

— Plutarch

In Springtime, O Dionysos,
To thy holy temple come,
To Elis with thy Graces,
Rushing with thy bull-foot, come,
Noble Bull, Noble Bull

— Plutarch

“[Theseus] soon found himself involved in factions and troubles; those who long had hated him had now added to their hatred contempt; and the minds of the people were so generally corrupted, that, instead of obeying commands with silence, they expected to be flattered into their duty.”

— Plutarch

“Rather I fear on the contrary that while we banish painful thoughts we may banish memory as well.”

— Plutarch

“For there is no virtue, the honour and credit for which procures a man more odium than that of justice; and this, because more than any other, it acquires a man power and authority among the common people. For they only honour the valiant and admire the wise, while in addition they also love just men, and put entire trust and confidence in them. They fear the bold man, and mistrust the clever man, and moreover think them rather beholding to their natural complexion, than to any goodness of their will, for these excellences; they look upon valour as a certain natural strength of the mind, and wisdom as a constitutional acuteness; whereas a man has it in his power to be just, if he have but the will to be so, and therefore injustice is thought the most dishonourable, because it is least excusable.”

— Plutarch

I would rather excel in the knowledge of what is excellent, than in the extent of my power and possessions.

— Plutarch

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

— Plutarch

“Water continually dropping will wear hard rocks hollow.”

— Plutarch

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

— Plutarch

I have heard that Tiberius used to say that that man was ridiculous, who after sixth years, appealed to a physician.

— Plutarch

“Time which diminishes all things increases understanding for the aging.”

— Plutarch

“Nothing can produce so great a serenity of life as a mind free from guilt and kept untainted, not only from actions, but purposes that are wicked. By this means the soul will be not only unpolluted but also undisturbed. The fountain will run clear and unsullied.”

— Plutarch

“After he routed Pharnaces Ponticus at the first assault, he wrote thus to his friends: I came, I saw, I conquered.”

— Plutarch

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

— Plutarch

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

— Plutarch

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

— Plutarch

“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?" What more valuable for the elevation of our own character?”

— 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

“Among real friends there is no rivalry or jealousy of one another, but they are satisfied and contented alike whether they are equal or one of them is superior.”

— Plutarch

When Anaxagoras was told of the death of his son, he only said, "I knew he was mortal." So we in all casualties of life should say "I knew my riches were uncertain, that my friend was but a man." Such considerations would soon pacify us, because all our troubles proceed from their being unexpected.

— Plutarch

“The authors of great evils know best how to remove them.”

— Plutarch

“We ought to regard books as we do sweetmeats, not wholly to aim at the pleasantest, but chiefly to respect the wholesomest; not forbidding either, but approving the latter most.”

— Plutarch

One made the observation of the people of Asia that they were all slaves to one man, merely because they could not pronounce that syllable No.

— Plutarch

“Wickedness frames the engines of her own torment. She is a wonderful artisan of a miserable life.”

— Plutarch

“Rome was in the most dangerous inclination to change on account of the unequal distribution of wealth and property, those of highest rank and greatest spirit having impoverished themselves by shows, entertainments, ambition of offices, and sumptuous buildings, and the riches of the city having thus fallen into the hands of mean and low-born persons. So that there wanted but a slight impetus to set all in motion, it being in the power of every daring man to overturn a sickly commonwealth.”

— Plutarch

“Proper listening is the foundation of proper living.”

— Plutarch

“The soul of man ... is a portion or a copy of the soul of the Universe and is joined together on principles and in proportions corresponding to those which govern the Universe.”

— Plutarch

“God alone is entirely exempt from all want of human virtues, that which needs least is the most absolute and divine.”

— Plutarch

Nor is drunkenness censured for anything so much as its intemperate and endless talk.

— Plutarch

“If any man think it a small matter, or of mean concernment, to bridle his tongue, he is much mistaken; for it is a point to be silent when occasion requires, and better than to speak, though never so well.”

— Plutarch

“That we may consult concerning others, and not others concerning us.”

— Plutarch

“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

“The giving of riches and honors to a wicked man is like giving strong wine to him that hath a fever.”

— Plutarch

“He [Caesar] loved the treason, but hated the traitor.”

— Plutarch

“The drop hollows out the stone not by strength, but by constant falling.”

— Plutarch

“Zeno first started that doctrine, that knavery is the best defence against a knave.”

— Plutarch

“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

Our senses through ignorance of Reality, falsely tell us that what appears to be, is. FEAR = False Evidence Appearing Real

— Plutarch

“To fail to do good is as bad as doing harm.”

— Plutarch

“A warrior carries his shield for the sake of the entire line.”

— Plutarch

“Politics is not like an ocean voyage or a military campaign ... something which leaves off as soon as reached. It is not a public chore to be gotten over with. It is a way of life.”

— Plutarch

“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

“Dionysius the Elder, being asked whether he was at leisure, he replied, God forbid that it should ever befall me!”

— Plutarch

“Agesilaus being invited once to hear a man who admirably imitated the nightingale, he declined, saying he had heard the nightingale itself.”

— Plutarch

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

— Plutarch