Plutarch
Plutarch
Plutarch; c. AD 46 – AD 120) was a Greek historian, 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...
NationalityGreek
ProfessionPhilosopher
would-be ifs
If I were not Alexander, I would be Diogenes.
omission evil wickedness
The omission of good is no less reprehensible than the commission of evil.
enemy quality excellent
Let us carefully observe those good qualities wherein our enemies excel us; and endeavor to excel them, by avoiding what is faulty, and imitating what is excellent in them.
horse children teaching
The wildest colts make the best horses.
water elements world
What All The World Knows Water is the principle, or the element, of things. All things are water.
philosophical animal want
If you declare that you are naturally designed for such a diet, then first kill for yourself what you want to eat. Do it, however, only through your own resources, unaided by cleaver or cudgel or any kind of ax
fairs candle
When the candles are out all women are fair.
summer winter land
Antisthenes says that in a certain faraway land the cold is so intense that words freeze as soon as they are uttered, and after some time then thaw and become audible, so that words spoken in winter go unheard until the next summer.
feet age fool
An old doting fool, with one foot already in the grave.
merit birth fine-things
Good birth is a fine thing, but the merit is our ancestors.
life men measure-of-a-man
The measure of a man's life is the well spending of it, and not the length.
justice prejudice debt
There is no debt with so much prejudice put off as that of justice.
time soul world
Pythagoras, when he was asked what time was, answered that it was the soul of this world.
tradition customs
Custom is almost a second nature.