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
disease usual neighbor
The usual disease of princes, grasping covetousness, had made them suspicious and quarrelsome neighbors.
people rude spades
These Macedonians are a rude and clownish people; they call a spade a spade.
memories gone wonder
Memory: what wonders it performs in preserving and storing up things gone by - or rather, things that are
son warrior shields
A Spartan woman, as she handed her son his shield, exhorted him saying, "As a warrior of Sparta come back with your shield or on it."
knaves knavery defense
Knavery is the best defense against a knave.
running grief eye
When a man's eyes are sore his friends do not let him finger them, however much he wishes to, nor do they themselves touch the inflammation: But a man sunk in grief suffers every chance comer to stir and augment his affliction like a running sore; and by reason of the fingering and consequent irritation it hardens into a serious and intractable evil.
kings prayer army
But being overborne with numbers, and nobody daring to face about, stretching out his hands to heaven, [Romulus] prayed to Jupiter to stop the army, and not to neglect but maintain the Roman cause, now in extreme danger. The prayer was no sooner made, than shame and respect for their king checked many; the fears of the fugitives changed suddenly into confidence.
thinking likes favour
He who least likes courting favour, ought also least to think of resenting neglect; to feel wounded at being refused a distinction can only arise from an overweening appetite to have it.
perfect long political
So long as he was personally present, [Alcibiades] had the perfect mastery of his political adversaries; calumny only succeeded in his absence.
hands fool
He is a fool who leaves things close at hand to follow what is out of reach.
enemy conquer
Alexander esteemed it more kingly to govern himself than to conquer his enemies.
fate unexpected appearance
Fate, however, is to all appearance more unavoidable than unexpected.
wise fighting men
Water and our necessary food are the only things that wise men must fight for.
greatness giving mind
Good fortune will elevate even petty minds, and give them the appearance of a certain greatness and stateliness, as from their high place they look down upon the world; but the truly noble and resolved spirit raises itself, and becomes more conspicuous in times of disaster and ill fortune.