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
might fool criminals
Being summoned by the Athenians out of Sicily to plead for his life, Alcibiades absconded, saying that that criminal was a fool who studied a defence when he might fly for it.
father taken opportunity
Whenever Alexander heard Philip had taken any town of importance, or won any signal victory, instead of rejoicing at it altogether, he would tell his companions that his father would anticipate everything, and leave him and them no opportunities of performing great and illustrious actions.
fighting giving said
To one that promised to give him hardy cocks that would die fighting, "Prithee," said Cleomenes, "give me cocks that will kill fighting.
veils mortals
I am whatever was, or is, or will be; and my veil no mortal ever took up.
justice politics prosperity
Justice makes the life of such as are in prosperity, power and authority the life of a god, and injustice turns it to that of a beast.
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.
children mind stamps
As soft wax is apt to take the stamp of the seal, so are the minds of young children to receive the instruction imprinted on them.
beautiful giving wish
As in the case of painters, who have undertaken to give us a beautiful and graceful figure, which may have some slight blemishes, we do not wish then to pass over such blemishes altogether, nor yet to mark them too prominently. The one would spoil the beauty, and the other destroy the likeness of the picture.
house humanity temples
As those that pull down private houses adjoining to the temples of the gods, prop up such parts as are contiguous to them; so, in undermining bashfulness, due regard is to be had to adjacent modesty, good-nature and humanity.
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.
anger battle resistance
When I myself had twice or thrice made a resolute resistance unto anger, the like befell me that did the Thebans; who, having once foiled the Lacedaemonians (who before that time had held themselves invincible), never after lost so much as one battle which they fought against them.
anger men angry-man
Lamentation is the only musician that always, like a screech-owl, alights and sits on the roof of any angry man.
wickedness wonderful miserable
Wickedness frames the engines of her own torment. She is a wonderful artisan of a miserable life.