Quotes by Plutarch

About Plutarch:

Plutarch is considered today to be a Middle Platonist. Plutarch's surviving works seem to have all been originally written in Koine Greek.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Nothing is harder to direct than a man in prosperity; nothing more easily managed that one is adversity.

Plutarch

To find fault is easy; to do better may be difficult.

Plutarch

Fate leads him who follows it, and drags him who resist.

Plutarch

We ought not to treat living creatures like shoes or household belongings, which when worn with use we throw away.

Plutarch

It is indeed a desirable thing to be well-descended, but the glory belongs to our ancestors.

Plutarch

If I were not Alexander, I would be Diogenes.

Plutarch

Character is simply habit long continued.

Plutarch

When the strong box contains no more both friends and flatterers shun the door.

Plutarch

The superstitious man wishes he did not believe in gods, as the atheist does not, but fears to disbelieve in them.

Plutarch

Vultures are the most righteous of birds: they do not attack even the smallest living creature.

Plutarch

I am all that hath been, and is, and shall be; and my veil no mortal has hitherto raised.

Plutarch

While Leonidas was preparing to make his stand, a Persian envoy arrived. The envoy explained to Leonidas the futility of trying to resist the advance of the Great King's army and demanded that the Greeks lay down their arms and submit to the might of...

Plutarch

The Spartans do not ask how many are the enemy but where are they.

Plutarch

A mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be lighted.

Plutarch

Music, to create harmony, must investigate discord.

Plutarch

It’s a thing of no great difficulty to raise objections against another man’s oration, it is a very easy matter; but to produce a better in its place is a work extremely troublesome.

Plutarch

It were better to have no opinion of God at all than such a one as is unworthy of him; for the one is only belief - the other contempt.

Plutarch

Courage consists not in hazarding without fear; but being resolutely minded in a just cause.

Plutarch

Courage stands halfway between cowardice and rashness, one of which is a lack, the other an excess of courage.

Plutarch

No man ever wetted clay and then left it, as if there would be bricks by chance and fortune.

Plutarch

Medicine to produce health must examine disease; and music, to create harmony must investigate discord.

Plutarch

Author Bio

  • NamePlutarch
  • Descriptionancient greek historian and philosopher
  • Born46
  • Died127
  • CountryAncient Greece
  • ProfessionEssayist; Priest; Ambassador; Magistrate; Biographer; Historian