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
friendship best-friend adversity
Prosperity is no just scale; adversity is the only balance to weigh friends.
adversity men prosperity
Nothing is harder to direct than a man in prosperity; nothing more easily managed that one is adversity.
life success courage
Courage stands halfway between cowardice and rashness, one of which is a lack, the other an excess of courage.
may fault-finding faults
To find fault is easy; to do better may be difficult.
life men childhood
To be ignorant of the lives of the most celebrated men of antiquity is to continue in a state of childhood all our days.
determination rocks water
Water continually dropping will wear hard rocks hollow.
loss matter citizens
It is a hard matter, my fellow citizens, to argue with the belly, since it has no ears.
character long habit
Character is simply habit long continued.
inspirational practice inspire
Moral good is a practical stimulus; it is no sooner seen than it inspires an impulse to practice.
inspirational mind analogies
For the correct analogy for the mind is not a vessel that needs filling, but wood that needs igniting.
courage causes
Courage consists not in hazarding without fear; but being resolutely minded in a just cause.
change fate decay
In human life there is constant change of fortune; and it is unreasonable to expect an exemption from the common fate. Life itself decays, and all things are daily changing.
love-is and-love love-and-trust
Evidence of trust begets trust, and love is reciprocated by love.
happiness habit easy
Choose what is best, and habit will make it pleasant and easy.