Plutarch Quotes

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Adversity is the only balance to weigh friends.

Plutarch

Be ruled by time, the wisest counsellor of all.

Plutarch (Parallel Lives - Pericles)

When the candles are out all women are fair.

Plutarch (Moralia - Conjugal Precepts)

Character is habit long continued. 

Plutarch (Moralia)

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

Plutarch

What we achieve inwardly will change outer reality.

Plutarch

The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled.

Plutarch (Moralia)

Love, like ivy, is clever at attaching itself to any support. 

Plutarch (Moralia)

Do not speak of your happiness to one less fortunate than yourself.

Plutarch

The very spring and root of honesty and virtue lie in good education.

Plutarch (Moralia - On the Training of Children)

Nothing enviable or noble ever springs from dishonour.

Plutarch (Moralia - How to Profit From Ones Enemies)

He is a fool who lets slip a bird in the hand for a bird in the bush.

Plutarch (Moralia - Of Garrulity)

Of all the disorders in the soul, envy is the only one no one confesses to.

Plutarch

It is a true proverb, that if you live with a lame man, you will learn a limp.

Plutarch (Moralia - On the Training of Children)

Know how to listen, and you will profit even from those who talk badly.

Plutarch

In speaking we have men as teachers, but in keeping silence we have the gods. 

Plutarch (Moralia)

For to err in opinion, though it be not the part of wise men, is at least human.

Plutarch (Moralia - Against Colotes)

There are three forms of life: the practical, the contemplative and the life of pleasure. 

Plutarch (Moralia - On the Training of Children)

Fate, however, is to all appearance more unavoidable than unexpected.

Plutarch (Parallel Lives - Caesar)

It is certainly desirable to be well descended, but the glory belongs to our ancestors.

Plutarch (Moralia - On the Training of Children)

The whole of life is but a moment of time. It is our duty, therefore to use it, not to misuse it.

Plutarch

Often things become valuable when they are lost that seemed worthless when securely held. 

Plutarch (Moralia)

Ease and speed in doing a thing do not give the work lasting solidity or exactness of beauty.

Plutarch (Parallel Lives - Life of Pericles)

These are the materials for reflection which history affords to those who choose to make use of them.

Plutarch (Parallel Lives - Aemilius Paulus)

There must be a concurrence of three things to produce perfectly right action: nature, reason and habit. 

Plutarch (Moralia)

Even the poor ought to endeavour as best they can to provide the best education for their children. 

Plutarch (Moralia - On the Training of Children)

In a philosophic discussion we must set aside the repute of the speaker and examine what he says. 

Plutarch (Moralia)

Even if a minefield or the abyss should lie before me, I will march straight ahead without looking back.

Plutarch (Moralia - On the Training of Children)

There is nothing more dignified and noble than to maintain a calm demeanour when an enemy reviles one. 

Plutarch (Moralia)

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

Plutarch (Parallel Lives - Demetrius)

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Plutarch Biography

Born: 46
Died: 120

Plutarch or Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus was an Greek historian and famous biographer. He is best known for his highly influential works such as "Parallel Lives" and "Moralia"

Notable Works

Parallel Lives
Moralia

Picture Quotes