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
nice fall maturity
What sort of tree is there which will not, if neglected, grow crooked and unfruitful; what but Will, if rightly ordered, prove productive and bring its fruit to maturity? What strength of body is there which will not lose its vigor and fall to decay by laziness, nice usage, and debauchery?
soldier shut-up miserable
Let a prince be guarded with soldiers, attended by councillors, and shut up in forts; yet if his thoughts disturb him, he is miserable.
lamps argument witness
Demosthenes, when taunted by Pytheas that all his arguments "smelled of the lamp," replied, "Yes, but your lamp and mine, my friend, do not witness the same labours.
wickedness wonderful miserable
Wickedness frames the engines of her own torment. She is a wonderful artisan of a miserable life.
encouragement children mean
Children ought to be led to honorable practices by means of encouragement and reasoning, and most certainly not by blows and ill treatment.
justice politics common
Nor let us part with justice, like a cheap and common thing, for a small and trifling price.
weight earth might
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.
lamps argument scoffing
Pythias once, scoffing at Demosthenes, said that his arguments smelt of the lamp.
news ill proverbial
That proverbial saying, "Ill news goes quick and far.
mouths speech pebbles
Demosthenes overcame and rendered more distinct his inarticulate and stammering pronunciation by speaking with pebbles in his mouth.
reflection men thinking
Ought a man to be confident that he deserves his good fortune, and think much of himself when he has overcome a nation, or city, or empire; or does fortune give this as an example to the victor also of the uncertainty of human affairs, which never continue in one stay? For what time can there be for us mortals to feel confident, when our victories over others especially compel us to dread fortune, and while we are exulting, the reflection that the fatal day comes now to one, now to another, in regular succession, dashes our joy.
enemy important
It was not important how many enemies there are, but where the enemy is
faults matter human-nature
To conduct great matters and never commit a fault is above the force of human nature.
plato rivers gold
Cicero called Aristotle a river of flowing gold, and said of Plato's Dialogues, that if Jupiter were to speak, it would be in language like theirs.