Background Image

...

Mothers Ought To Bring Up And Nurse Their Own Children; For They Bring Them Up With Greater Affection And With Greater Anxiety, As Loving Them From The Heart, And So To Speak, Every Inch Of Them.

-Plutarch

...

Please Wait....
Translating....

Mothers Ought To Bring

Plutarch

...

Mothers Ought To Bring Up And Nurse Their Own Children; For They Bring Them Up With Greater Affection And With Greater Anxiety, As Loving Them From The Heart, And So To Speak, Every Inch Of Them.

Views: 5

Topic

More From Plutarch

If You Declare That You Are Naturally Designed For Such A Diet, Then First Kill For Yourself What You Want To Eat. Do It, However, Only Through Your Own Resources, Unaided By Cleaver Or Cudgel Or Any Kind Of Ax

Children Are To Be Won To Follow Liberal Studies By Exhortations And Rational Motives, And On No Account To Be Forced Thereto By Whipping.

Distressed Valor Challenges Great Respect, Even From An Enemy.

It Is Circumstance And Proper Measure That Give An Action Its Character, And Make It Either Good Or Bad.

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 Persia. Leonidas Laconically Told Xerxes, "come And Get Them.

The Whole Life Of Man Is But A Point Of Time; Let Us Enjoy It.

Alexander Esteemed It More Kingly To Govern Himself Than To Conquer His Enemies.

Let A Prince Be Guarded With Soldiers, Attended By Councillors, And Shut Up In Forts; Yet If His Thoughts Disturb Him, He Is Miserable.

Philosophy Is An Act Of Living.

Riches For The Most Part Are Hurtful To Them That Possess Them.

Blinded As They Are To Their True Character By Self-love, Every Man Is His Own First And Chiefest Flatterer, Prepared, Therefore, To Welcome The Flatterer From The Outside, Who Only Comes Confirming The Verdict Of The Flatterer Within.

Poverty Is Never Dishonourable In Itself, But Only When It Is A Mark Of Sloth, Intemperance, Extravagance, Or Thoughtlessness. When, On The Other Hand, It Is The Handmaid Of A Sober, Industrious, Righteous, And Brave Man, Who Devotes All His Powers To The Service Of The People, It Is The Sign Of A Lofty Spirit That Harbours No Mean Thoughts

A Lover's Soul Lives In The Body Of His Mistress.

Custom Is Almost A Second Nature.

The Whole Of Life Is But A Moment Of Time. It Is Our Duty, Therefore To Use It, Not To Misuse It.

The Poor Go To War, To Fight And Die For The Delights, Riches, And Superfluities Of Others.

So Very Difficult A Matter Is It To Trace And Find Out The Truth Of Anything By History.

It Does Not Follow, That Because A Particular Work Of Art Succeeds In Charming Us, Its Creator Also Deserves Our Admiration.

Anaximander Says That Men Were First Produced In Fishes, And When They Were Grown Up And Able To Help Themselves Were Thrown Up, And So Lived Upon The Land.

Instead Of Using Medicine, Better Fast Today.

The Old Proverb Was Now Made Good, "the Mountain Had Brought Forth A Mouse.

Vultures Are The Most Righteous Of Birds: They Do Not Attack Even The Smallest Living Creature.

Medicine To Produce Health Must Examine Disease; And Music, To Create Harmony Must Investigate Discord.

Democritus Said, Words Are But The Shadows Of Actions.

It Is Not The Most Distinguished Achievements That Men's Virtues Or Vices May Be Best Discovered; But Very Often An Action Of Small Note. An Casual Remark Or Joke Shall Distinguish A Person's Real Character More Than The Greatest Sieges, Or The Most Important Battles.

After He Routed Pharnaces Ponticus At The First Assault, He Wrote Thus To His Friends: "i Came, I Saw, I Conquered.

... Being Perpetually Charmed By His Familiar Siren, That Is, By His Geometry, He Neglected To Eat And Drink And Took No Care Of His Person; That He Was Often Carried By Force To The Baths, And When There He Would Trace Geometrical Figures In The Ashes Of The Fire, And With His Finger Draws Lines Upon His Body When It Was Anointed With Oil, Being In A State Of Great Ecstasy And Divinely Possessed By His Science.

I, For My Part, Wonder Of What Sort Of Feeling, Mind Or Reason That Man Was Possessed Who Was First To Pollute His Mouth With Gore, And To Allow His Lips To Touch The Flesh Of A Murdered Being: Who Spread His Table With The Mangled Forms Of Dead Bodies, And Claimed As Daily Food And Dainty Dishes What But Now Were Beings Endowed With Movement, Perception And With Voice. …but For The Sake Of Some Little Mouthful Of Flesh, We Deprive A Soul Of The Sun And Light, And Of That Portion Of Life And Time It Had Been Born In To The World To Enjoy.

What We Achieve Inwardly Will Change Outer Reality.

Oh, What A World Full Of Pain We Create, For A Little Taste Upon The Tongue.

It Is The Usual Consolation Of The Envious, If They Cannot Maintain Their Superiority, To Represent Those By Whom They Are Surpassed As Inferior To Some One Else.

Those Who Aim At Great Deeds Must Also Suffer Greatly.

By The Study Of Their Biographies, We Receive Each Man As A Guest Into Our Minds, And We Seem To Understand Their Character As The Result Of A Personal Acquaintance, Because We Have Obtained From Their Acts The Best And Most Important Means Of Forming An Opinion About Them. "what Greater Pleasure Could'st Thou Gain Than This?" What More Valuable For The Elevation Of Our Own Character?

As Those That Pull Down Private Houses Adjoining To The Temples Of The Gods, Prop Up Such Parts As Are Contiguous To Them; So, In Undermining Bashfulness, Due Regard Is To Be Had To Adjacent Modesty, Good-nature And Humanity.

An Old Doting Fool, With One Foot Already In The Grave.

When Darius Offered Him Ten Thousand Talents, And To Divide Asia Equally With Him, "i Would Accept It," Said Parmenio, "were I Alexander." "and So Truly Would I," Said Alexander, "if I Were Parmenio." But He Answered Darius That The Earth Could Not Bear Two Suns, Nor Asia Two Kings.

The Soul Of Man... Is A Portion Or A Copy Of The Soul Of The Universe And Is Joined Together On Principles And In Proportions Corresponding To Those Which Govern The Universe.

Fortune Had Favoured Me In This War That I Feared, The Rather, That Some Tempest Would Follow So Favourable A Gale.

It Is Easy To Utter What Has Been Kept Silent, But Impossible To Recall What Has Been Uttered.

For To Err In Opinion, Though It Be Not The Part Of Wise Men, Is At Least Human.

The State Of Life Is Most Happy Where Superfluities Are Not Required And Necessities Are Not Wanting.

The Crowns Of Kings Do Not Prevent Those Who Wear Them From Being Tormented Sometimes By Violent Headaches.

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.

Nothing Is Cheap Which Is Superfluous, For What One Does Not Need, Is Dear At A Penny.

But The Lacedaemonians, Who Make It Their First Principle Of Action To Serve Their Country's Interest, Know Not Any Thing To Be Just Or Unjust By Any Measure But That.

And Archimedes, As He Was Washing, Thought Of A Manner Of Computing The Proportion Of Gold In King Hiero's Crown By Seeing The Water Flowing Over The Bathing-stool. He Leaped Up As One Possessed Or Inspired, Crying, "i Have Found It! Eureka!".

God Alone Is Entirely Exempt From All Want Of Human Virtues, That Which Needs Least Is The Most Absolute And Divine.

Abstruse Questions Must Have Abstruse Answers.

Statesmen Are Not Only Liable To Give An Account Of What They Say Or Do In Public, But There Is A Busy Inquiry Made Into Their Very Meals, Beds, Marriages, And Every Other Sportive Or Serious Action.

Epaminondas Is Reported Wittily To Have Said Of A Good Man That Died About The Time Of The Battle Of Leuctra, "how Came He To Have So Much Leisure As To Die, When There Was So Much Stirring?

Time Is The Wisest Of All Counselors.

Time Management

Wickedness Is A Wonderfully Diligent Architect Of Misery, Of Shame, Accompanied With Terror, And Commotion, And Remorse, And Endless Perturbation.

Hesiod Might As Well Have Kept His Breath To Cool His Pottage.

Choose What Is Best, And Habit Will Make It Pleasant And Easy.

This Excerpt Is Presented As Reproduced By Copernicus In The Preface To De Revolutionibus: "some Think That The Earth Remains At Rest. But Philolaus The Pythagorean Believes That, Like The Sun And Moon, It Revolves Around The Fire In An Oblique Circle. Heraclides Of Pontus And Ecphantus The Pythagorean Make The Earth Move, Not In A Progressive Motion, But Like A Wheel In Rotation From West To East Around Its Own Center."

As Geographers, Sosius, Crowd Into The Edges Of Their Maps Parts Of The World Which They Do Not Know About, Adding Notes In The Margin To The Effect That Beyond This Lies Nothing But Sandy Deserts Full Of Wild Beasts, And Unapproachable Bogs.

...to The Dolphin Alone, Beyond All Other, Nature Has Granted What The Best Philosophers Seek: Friendship For No Advantage

I Had Rather Men Should Ask Why My Statue Is Not Set Up, Than Why It Is.

Time Which Diminishes All Things Increases Understanding For The Aging.

Vos Vestros Servate, Meos Mihi Linquite Mores You Keep To Your Own Ways, And Leave Mine To Me

Since, During Storms, Flames Leap From The Humid Vapors And Dark Clouds Emit Deafening Noises, Is It Surprising The Lightning, When It Strikes The Ground, Gives Rise To Truffles, Which Do Not Resemble Plants?

We Ought Not To Treat Living Creatures Like Shoes Or Household Belongings, Which When Worn With Use We Throw Away.

The Great God Pan Is Dead.

The Abuse Of Buying And Selling Votes Crept In And Money Began To Play An Important Part In Determining Elections. Later On, This Process Of Corruption Spread To The Law Courts. And Then To The Army, And Finally The Republic Was Subjected To The Rule Of Emperors

For There Is No Virtue, The Honour And Credit For Which Procures A Man More Odium From The Elite Than That Of Justice; And This, Because More Than Any Other, It Acquires A Man Power And Authority Among The Common People. For They Only Honour The Valiant And Admire The Wise, While In Addition They Also Love Just Men, And Put Entire Trust And Confidence In Them.

Prosperity Is No Just Scale; Adversity Is The Only Balance To Weigh Friends.

He Is A Fool Who Leaves Things Close At Hand To Follow What Is Out Of Reach.

A Traveller At Sparta, Standing Long Upon One Leg, Said To A Lacedaemonian, "i Do Not Believe You Can Do As Much." "true," Said He, "but Every Goose Can."

If I Were Not Alexander, I Would Be Diogenes.

Politics Is Not Like An Ocean Voyage Or A Military Campaign... Something Which Leaves Off As Soon As Reached. It Is Not A Public Chore To Be Gotten Over With. It Is A Way Of Life.

A Human Body In No Way Resembles Those That Were Born For Ravenousness; It Hath No Hawk's Bill, No Sharp Talon, No Roughness Of Teeth, No Such Strength Of Stomach Or Heat Of Digestion, As Can Be Sufficient To Convert Or Alter Such Heavy And Fleshy Fare.

Extraordinary Rains Pretty Generally Fall After Great Battles.

To Harmodius, Descended From The Ancient Harmodius, When He Reviled Iphicrates [a Shoemaker's Son] For His Mean Birth, "my Nobility," Said He, "begins In Me, But Yours Ends In You.

Of The Land Which The Romans Gained By Conquest From Their Neighbours, Part They Sold Publicly, And Turned The Remainder Into Common; This Common Land They Assigned To Such Of The Citizens As Were Poor And Indigent, For Which They Were To Pay Only A Small Acknowledgment Into The Public Treasury. But When The Wealthy Men Began To Offer Larger Rents, And Drive The Poorer People Out, It Was Enacted By Law That No Person Whatever Should Enjoy More Than Five Hundred Acres Of Ground.

A Warrior Carries His Shield For The Sake Of The Entire Line.

The Measure Of A Man's Life Is The Well Spending Of It, And Not The Length.

Measure Of A Man

Lycurgus The Lacedæmonian Brought Long Hair Into Fashion Among His Countrymen, Saying That It Rendered Those That Were Handsome More Beautiful, And Those That Were Deformed More Terrible. To One That Advised Him To Set Up A Democracy In Sparta, "pray," Said Lycurgus, "do You First Set Up A Democracy In Your Own House."

If You Hate Your Enemies, You Will Contract Such A Vicious Habit Of Mind That It Will Break Out Upon Those Who Are Your Friends, Or Those Who Are Indifferent To You.

Come Back With Your Shield - Or On It

When A Man's Struggle Begins Within Oneself, The Man Is Worth Something.

Let Us Carefully Observe Those Good Qualities Wherein Our Enemies Excel Us; And Endeavor To Excel Them, By Avoiding What Is Faulty, And Imitating What Is Excellent In Them.

An Imbalance Between Rich And Poor Is The Oldest And Most Fatal Ailment Of All Republics.

Economic Inequality

For The Wise Man, Every Day Is A Festival.

For Man Is A Plant, Not Fixed In The Earth, Nor Immovable, But Heavenly, Whose Head, Rising As It Were From A Root Upwards, Is Turned Towards Heaven.

It Is The Admirer Of Himself, And Not The Admirer Of Virtue, That Thinks Himself Superior To Others.

Playing The Cretan With The Cretans (i.e. Lying To Liars).

Rather I Fear On The Contrary That While We Banish Painful Thoughts We May Banish Memory As Well.

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.

The Mind Is Not A Vessel To Be Filled But A Fire To Be Kindled.

Nature Without Learning Is Like A Blind Man; Learning Without Nature, Like A Maimed One; Practice Without Both, Incomplete. As In Agriculture A Good Soil Is First Sought For, Then A Skilful Husbandman, And Then Good Seed; In The Same Way Nature Corresponds To The Soil, The Teacher To The Husbandman, Precepts And Instruction To The Seed.

These Macedonians Are A Rude And Clownish People; They Call A Spade A Spade.

Cicero Called Aristotle A River Of Flowing Gold, And Said Of Plato's Dialogues, That If Jupiter Were To Speak, It Would Be In Language Like Theirs.

He [caesar] Loved The Treason, But Hated The Traitor.

Silence Is An Answer To A Wise Man.

Beauty Is The Flower Of Virtue.

It Is No Flattery To Give A Friend A Due Character; For Commendation Is As Much The Duty Of A Friend As Reprehension.

Of All The Disorders In The Soul, Envy Is The Only One No One Confesses To.

The Real Destroyer Of The Liberties Of The People Is He Who Spreads Among Them Bounties, Donations And Benefits.

The First Man . . . Ventured To Call Food And Nourishment The Parts That Had A Little Before Bellowed And Cried, Moved And Lived. How Could His Eyes Endure The Slaughter When Throats Were Slit And Hides Flayed And Limbs Torn From Limb? How Could His Nose Endure The Stench? How Was It That The Pollution Did Not Turn Away His Taste, Which Made Contact With The Sores Of Others And Sucked Juices And Serums From Mortal Wounds?

If Any Man Think It A Small Matter, Or Of Mean Concernment, To Bridle His Tongue, He Is Much Mistaken; For It Is A Point To Be Silent When Occasion Requires, And Better Than To Speak, Though Never So Well.

The Most Glorious Exploits Do Not Always Furnish Us With The Clearest Discoveries Of Virtue Or Vice In Men.

The New King [alexander The Great] Should Perform Acts So Important And Glorious As Would Make The Poets And Musicians Of Future Ages Labour And Sweat To Describe And Celebrate Him.

Moral Habits, Induced By Public Practices, Are Far Quicker In Making Their Way Into Men's Private Lives, Than The Failings And Faults Of Individuals Are In Infecting The City At Large.

Not By Lamentations And Mournful Chants Ought We To Celebrate The Funeral Of A Good Man, But By Hymns; For, Ion Ceasing To Be Numbered With Mortals, He Enters Upon The Heritage Of A Diviner Life. Since He Is Gone Where He Feels No Pain, Let Us Not Indulge In Too Much Grief. The Soul Is Incapable Of Death. And He, Like A Bird Not Long Enough In His Cage To Become Attached To It, Is Free To Fly Away To A Purer Air. . . . Since We Cherish A Trust Like This, Let Our Outward Actions Be In Accord With It, And Let Us Keep Our Hearts Pure And Our Minds Calm.

Nothing Is Harder To Direct Than A Man In Prosperity; Nothing More Easily Managed That One Is Adversity.

Alcibiades Had A Very Handsome Dog, That Cost Him Seven Thousand Drachmas; And He Cut Off His Tail, "that," Said He, "the Athenians May Have This Story To Tell Of Me, And May Concern Themselves No Further With Me.

Children Ought To Be Led To Honorable Practices By Means Of Encouragement And Reasoning, And Most Certainly Not By Blows And Ill Treatment.

From Themistocles Began The Saying, "he Is A Second Hercules."

What, Did You Not Know, Then, That To-day Lucullus Dines With Lucullus?

For He Who Gives No Fuel To Fire Puts It Out, And Likewise He Who Does Not In The Beginning Nurse His Wrath And Does Not Puff Himself Up With Anger Takes Precautions Against It And Destroys It.

Being Summoned By The Athenians Out Of Sicily To Plead For His Life, Alcibiades Absconded, Saying That That Criminal Was A Fool Who Studied A Defence When He Might Fly For It.

Scilurus On His Death-bed, Being About To Leave Four-score Sons Surviving, Offered A Bundle Of Darts To Each Of Them, And Bade Them Break Them. When All Refused, Drawing Out One By One, He Easily Broke Them, Thus Teaching Them That If They Held Together, They Would Continue Strong; But If They Fell Out And Were Divided, They Would Become Weak.

Dionysius The Elder, Being Asked Whether He Was At Leisure, He Replied, "god Forbid That It Should Ever Befall Me!"

A Few Vices Are Sufficient To Darken Many Virtues.

One Made The Observation Of The People Of Asia That They Were All Slaves To One Man, Merely Because They Could Not Pronounce That Syllable No.

They Fought Indeed And Were Slain, But It Was To Maintain The Luxury And The Wealth Of Other Men.

Wickedness Frames The Engines Of Her Own Torment. She Is A Wonderful Artisan Of A Miserable Life.

Cicero Said Loud-bawling Orators Were Driven By Their Weakness To Noise, As Lame Men To Take Horse.

A Prating Barber Asked Archelaus How He Would Be Trimmed. He Answered, "in Silence."

Agesilaus Was Very Fond Of His Children; And It Is Reported That Once Toying With Them He Got Astride Upon A Reed As Upon A Horse, And Rode About The Room; And Being Seen By One Of His Friends, He Desired Him Not To Speak Of It Till He Had Children Of His Own.

Evidence Of Trust Begets Trust, And Love Is Reciprocated By Love.

The Pilot Cannot Mitigate The Billows Or Calm The Winds.

When Demosthenes Was Asked What Was The First Part Of Oratory, He Answered, "action," And Which Was The Second, He Replied, "action," And Which Was The Third, He Still Answered "action.

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.

There Are Two Sentences Inscribed Upon The Ancient Oracle... "know Thyself" And "nothing Too Much"; And Upon These All Other Precepts Depend.

The Process May Seem Strange And Yet It Is Very True. I Did Not So Much Gain The Knowledge Of Things By The Words, As Words By The Experience I Had Of Things.

He Who First Called Money The Sinews Of The State Seems To Have Said This With Special Reference To War.

Rest Is The Sweet Sauce Of Labor.

There Were Two Brothers Called Both And Either; Perceiving Either Was A Good, Understanding, Busy Fellow, And Both A Silly Fellow And Good For Little, Philip Said, "either Is Both, And Both Is Neither.

The Conduct Of A Wise Politician Is Ever Suited To The Present Posture Of Affairs. Often By Foregoing A Part He Saves The Whole, And By Yielding In A Small Matter Secures A Greater.

Demosthenes Told Phocion, "the Athenians Will Kill You Some Day When They Once Are In A Rage." "and You," Said He, "if They Are Once In Their Senses."

To Make No Mistakes Is Not In The Power Of Man; But From Their Errors And Mistakes The Wise And Good Learn Wisdom For The Future.

If We Traverse The World, It Is Possible To Find Cities Without Walls, Without Letters, Without Kings, Without Wealth, Without Coin, Without Schools And Theatres; But A City Without A Temple, Or That Practiseth Not Worship, Prayer, And The Like, No One Ever Saw.

Athenodorus Says Hydrophobia, Or Water-dread, Was First Discovered In The Time Of Asclepiades.

I See The Cure Is Not Worth The Pain.

Courage Consists Not In Hazarding Without Fear; But Being Resolutely Minded In A Just Cause.

Aristodemus, A Friend Of Antigonus, Supposed To Be A Cook's Son, Advised Him To Moderate His Gifts And Expenses. "thy Words," Said He, "aristodemus, Smell Of The Apron.

The Man Who First Brought Ruin Upon The Roman People Was He Who Pampered Them By Largesses And Amusements.

Demosthenes Overcame And Rendered More Distinct His Inarticulate And Stammering Pronunciation By Speaking With Pebbles In His Mouth.

The Drop Hollows Out The Stone Not By Strength, But By Constant Falling.

Among Real Friends There Is No Rivalry Or Jealousy Of One Another, But They Are Satisfied And Contented Alike Whether They Are Equal Or One Of Them Is Superior.

We Rich Men Count Our Felicity And Happiness To Lie In These Superfluities, And Not In Those Necessary Things.

Speech Is Like Cloth Of Arras Opened And Put Abroad, Whereby The Imagery Doth Appear In Figure; Whereas In Thoughts They Lie But As Packs.

He Who Busies Himself In Mean Occupations, Produces In The Very Pains He Takes About Things Of Little Or No Use, An Evidence Against Himself Of His Negligence And Indisposition To What Is Really Good

Fate, However, Is To All Appearance More Unavoidable Than Unexpected.

As To Caesar, When He Was Called Upon, He Gave No Testimony Against Clodius, Nor Did He Affirm That He Was Certain Of Any Injury Done To His Bed. He Only Said, He Had Divorced Pompeia Because The Wife Of Caesar Ought Not Only To Be Clear Of Such A Crime, But Of The Very Suspicion Of It.

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."

Zeno First Started That Doctrine, That Knavery Is The Best Defence Against A Knave.

Apothegms Are The Most Infallible Mirror To Represent A Man Truly What He Is.

Poverty Is Dishonorable, Not In Itself, But When It Is A Proof Of Laziness, Intemperance, Luxury, And Carelessness; Whereas In A Person That Is Temperate, Industrious, Just And Valiant, And Who Uses All His Virtues For The Public Good, It Shows A Great And Lofty Mind.

King Agis Said, "the Lacedæmonians Are Not Wont To Ask How Many, But Where The Enemy Are."

The Authors Of Great Evils Know Best How To Remove Them.

Real Excellence, Indeed, Is Most Recognized When Most Openly Looked Into.

Themistocles Replied That A Man's Discourse Was Like To A Rich Persian Carpet, The Beautiful Figures And Patterns Of Which Can Only Be Shown By Spreading And Extending It Out; When It Is Contracted And Folded Up, They Are Obscured And Lost.

A Soldier Told Pelopidas, "we Are Fallen Among The Enemies." Said He, "how Are We Fallen Among Them More Than They Among Us?"

Philosophy Is The Art Of Living.

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.

Lysander, When Dionysius Sent Him Two Gowns, And Bade Him Choose Which He Would Carry To His Daughter, Said, "she Can Choose Best," And So Took Both Away With Him.

There Is No Stronger Test Of A Person's Character Than Power And Authority, Exciting As They Do Every Passion, And Discovering Every Latent Vice.

Lamentation Is The Only Musician That Always, Like A Screech-owl, Alights And Sits On The Roof Of Any Angry Man.

Julius Caesar Divorced His Wife Pompeia, But Declared At The Trial That He Knew Nothing Of What Was Alleged Against Her And Clodius. When Asked Why, In That Case, He Had Divorced Her, He Replied: Because I Would Have The Chastity Of My Wife Clear Even Of Suspicion.

Whenever Alexander Heard Philip Had Taken Any Town Of Importance, Or Won Any Signal Victory, Instead Of Rejoicing At It Altogether, He Would Tell His Companions That His Father Would Anticipate Everything, And Leave Him And Them No Opportunities Of Performing Great And Illustrious Actions.

Remember What Simonides Said, That He Never Repented That He Had Held His Tongue, But Often That He Had Spoken.

Barba Non Facit Philosophum

Moral Good Is A Practical Stimulus; It Is No Sooner Seen Than It Inspires An Impulse To Practice.

Ease And Speed In Doing A Thing Do Not Give The Work Lasting Solidity Or Exactness Of Beauty.

For The Correct Analogy For The Mind Is Not A Vessel That Needs Filling, But Wood That Needs Igniting.

Phocion Compared The Speeches Of Leosthenes To Cypress-trees. "they Are Tall," Said He, "and Comely, But Bear No Fruit."

Forgetfulness Transforms Every Occurrence Into A Non-occurrence.

I Don't Need A Friend Who Changes When I Change And Who Nods When I Nod; My Shadow Does That Much Better.

Music, To Create Harmony, Must Investigate Discord.

Harmony In Music

We Are More Sensible Of What Is Done Against Custom Than Against Nature.

But For The Sake Of Some Little Mouthful Of Flesh We Deprive A Soul Of The Sun And Light, And Of That Proportion Of Life And Time It Had Been Born Into The World To Enjoy.

It Is Part Of A Good Man To Do Great And Noble Deeds, Though He Risk Everything.

A Good Man Will Take Care Of His Horses And Dogs, Not Only While They Are Young, But When Old And Past Service.

There Is No Debt With So Much Prejudice Put Off As That Of Justice.

To Do An Evil Action Is Base; To Do A Good Action Without Incurring Danger Is Common Enough; But It Is The Part Of A Good Man To Do Great And Noble Deeds, Though He Risks Every Thing.

The Human Heart Becomes Softened By Hearing Of Instances Of Gentleness And Consideration.

Nothing Exists In The Intellect That Has Not First Gone Through The Senses.

Friendship Is The Most Pleasant Of All Things, And Nothing More Glads The Heart Of Man.

Even A Nod From A Person Who Is Esteemed Is Of More Force Than A Thousand Arguments Or Studied Sentences From Others.

The Worship Most Acceptable To God Comes From A Thankful And Cheerful Heart.

Learn To Be Pleased With Everything...because It Could Always Be Worse, But Isn't!

Rome Was In The Most Dangerous Inclination To Change On Account Of The Unequal Distribution Of Wealth And Property, Those Of Highest Rank And Greatest Spirit Having Impoverished Themselves By Shows, Entertainments, Ambition Of Offices, And Sumptuous Buildings, And The Riches Of The City Having Thus Fallen Into The Hands Of Mean And Low-born Persons. So That There Wanted But A Slight Impetus To Set All In Motion, It Being In The Power Of Every Daring Man To Overturn A Sickly Commonwealth.

To Fail To Do Good Is As Bad As Doing Harm.

It Is Indeed A Desirable Thing To Be Well-descended, But The Glory Belongs To Our Ancestors.

Alexander Wept When He Heard From Anaxarchus That There Was An Infinite Number Of Worlds; And His Friends Asking Him If Any Accident Had Befallen Him, He Returns This Answer: "do You Not Think It A Matter Worthy Of Lamentation That When There Is Such A Vast Multitude Of Them, We Have Not Yet Conquered One?

Reason Speaks And Feeling Bites

Character Is Inured Habit.

Men Who Marry Wives Very Much Superior To Themselves Are Not So Truly Husbands To Their Wives As They Are Unawares Made Slaves To Their Position.

When One Told Plistarchus That A Notorious Railer Spoke Well Of Him, "i'll Lay My Life," Said He, "somebody Hath Told Him I Am Dead, For He Can Speak Well Of No Man Living.'

Though Others Before Him Had Triumphed Three Times, Pompeius, By Having Gained His First Triumph Over Libya, His Second Over Europe, And This The Last Over Asia, Seemed In A Manner To Have Brought The Whole World Into His Three Triumphs.

Man Is Neither By Birth Nor Disposition A Savage, Nor Of Unsocial Habits, But Only Becomes So By Indulging In Vices Contrary To His Nature.

Let Us Not Wonder If Something Happens Which Never Was Before, Or If Something Doth Not Appear Among Us With Which The Ancients Were Acquainted.

We Ought To Give Our Friend Pain If It Will Benefit Him, But Not To The Extent Of Breaking Off Our Friendship; But Just As We Make Use Of Some Biting Medicine That Will Save And Preserve The Life Of The Patient. And So The Friend, Like A Musician, In Bringing About An Improvement To What Is Good And Expedient, Sometimes Slackens The Chords, Sometimes Tightens Them, And Is Often Pleasant, But Always Useful.

Nothing Made The Horse So Fat As The King's Eye.

Socrates Said He Was Not An Athenian Or A Greek, But A Citizen Of The World.

Painting Is Silent Poetry.

We Ought To Regard Books As We Do Sweetmeats, Not Wholly To Aim At The Pleasantest, But Chiefly To Respect The Wholesomest; Not Forbidding Either, But Approving The Latter Most.

No Man Ever Wetted Clay And Then Left It, As If There Would Be Bricks By Chance And Fortune.

Trending Author

Boris Pasternak

John Lothrop Motley

Category