Plutarch
Greek historian, biographer, and essayist.
To sing the same tune, as the saying is, is in everything cloying and offensive; but men are generally pleased with variety.
The very spring and root of honesty and virtue lie in good education.
Moral good is a practical stimulus; it is no sooner seen than it inspires an impulse to practise.
Cato instigated the magistrates to punish all offenders, saying that they that did not prevent crimes when they might, encouraged them. 64 Of young men, he liked them that blushed better than those who looked pale.
Fate, however, is to all appearance more unavoidable than unexpected.
After the battle in Pharsalia, when Pompey was fled, one Nonius said they had seven eagles left still, and advised to try what they would do. "Your advice," said Cicero, "were good if we were to fight jackdaws."
Antagoras the poet was boiling a conger, and Antigonus, coming behind him as he was stirring his skillet, said, "Do you think, Antagoras, that Homer boiled congers when he wrote the deeds of Agamemnon?" Antagoras replied, "Do you think, O king, that Agamemnon, when he did such exploits, was a peeping in his army to see who boiled congers?"
To one commending an orator for his skill in amplifying petty matters, Agesilaus said, "I do not think that shoemaker a good workman that makes a great shoe for a little foot."
An old doting fool, with one foot already in the grave.
It is not reasonable that he who does not shoot should hit the mark, nor that he who does not stand fast at his post should win the day, or that the helpless man should succeed or the coward prosper.
A remorseful change of mind renders even a noble action base, whereas the determination which is grounded on knowledge and reason cannot change even if its actions fail.
It is a desirable thing to be well descended, but the glory belongs to our ancestors.
Be ruled by time, the wisest counsellor of all.
Socrates thought that if all our misfortunes were laid in one common heap, whence every one must take an equal portion, most persons would be contented to take their own and depart.
Phocion compared the speeches of Leosthenes to cypress-trees. "They are tall," said he, "and comely, but bear no fruit."
The whole life of man is but a point of time; let us enjoy it, therefore, while it lasts, and not spend it to no purpose.
Ought a man to be confident that he deserves his good fortune, and think much of himself when he has overcome a nation, or city, or empire; or does fortune give this as an example to the victor also of the uncertainty of human affairs, which never continue in one stay? For what time can there be for us mortals to feel confident, when our victories over others especially compel us to dread fortune, and while we are exulting, the reflection that the fatal day comes now to one, now to another, in regular succession, dashes our joy.
The abuse of buying and selling votes crept in and money began to play an important part in determining the elections.
For my part, I had rather be the first man among these fellows than the second man in Rome.
So very difficult a matter is it to trace and find out the truth of anything by history.