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
produces richest weeds
The richest soil, if cultivated, produces the rankest weeds
leisure should elders
Dionysius the Elder, being asked whether he was at leisure, he replied, "God forbid that it should ever befall me!
pennies doe needs
Nothing is cheap which is superfluous, for what one does not need, is dear at a penny.
art poetry greek
Painting is silent poetry, and poetry is painting that speaks.
dolphins philosopher granted
...To the Dolphin alone, beyond all other, nature has granted what the best philosophers seek: friendship for no advantage
harmony harmony-in-music discord
Music, to create harmony, must investigate discord.
rage said ifs
Demosthenes told Phocion, "The Athenians will kill you some day when they once are in a rage." "And you," said he, "if they are once in their senses.
veils mortals
I am whatever was, or is, or will be; and my veil no mortal ever took up.
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.
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.
rising pompey sun
Pompey bade Sylla recollect that more worshipped the rising than the setting sun.
usual envious consolation
It is the usual consolation of the envious, if they cannot maintain their superiority, to represent those by whom they are surpassed as inferior to some one else.
merit praise greedy
Those are greedy of praise prove that they are poor in merit.