Background Image

...

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.

-Plutarch

...

Please Wait....
Translating....

Rome Was In The

Plutarch

...

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.

Views: 6

Topic

More From Plutarch

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

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

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

He Who Owns A Hundred Sheep Must Fight With Fifty Wolves

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

The Omission Of Good Is No Less Reprehensible Than The Commission Of Evil.

Plato Used To Say To Xenocrates The Philosopher, Who Was Rough And Morose, "good Xenocrates, Sacrifice To The Graces.

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.

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

Abstruse Questions Must Have Abstruse Answers.

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

But Being Overborne With Numbers, And Nobody Daring To Face About, Stretching Out His Hands To Heaven, [romulus] Prayed To Jupiter To Stop The Army, And Not To Neglect But Maintain The Roman Cause, Now In Extreme Danger. The Prayer Was No Sooner Made, Than Shame And Respect For Their King Checked Many; The Fears Of The Fugitives Changed Suddenly Into Confidence.

It Is A True Proverb, That If You Live With A Lame Man, You Will Learn To Limp.

I Confess Myself The Greatest Coward In The World, For I Dare Not Do An Ill Thing.

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

Rest Is The Sweet Sauce Of Labor.

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

The Very Spring And Root Of Honesty And Virtue Lie In Good Education.

Most People Do Not Understand Until Old Age What Plato Tells Them When They Are Young.

Water Continually Dropping Will Wear Hard Rocks Hollow.

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

For, In The Language Of Heraclitus, The Virtuous Soul Is Pure And Unmixed Light, Springing From The Body As A Flash Of Lightning Darts From The Cloud. But The Soul That Is Carnal And Immersed In Sense, Like A Heavy And Dank Vapor, Can With Difficulty Be Kindled, And Caused To Raise Its Eyes Heavenward.

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

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

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

Books Delight To The Very Marrow Of One's Bones. They Speak To Us, Consult With Us, And Join With Us In A Living And Intense Intimacy.

In Words Are Seen The State Of Mind And Character And Disposition Of The Speaker.

The Measure Of A Man Is The Way He Bears Up Under Misfortune.

Water And Our Necessary Food Are The Only Things That Wise Men Must Fight For.

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.

Neither Blame Or Praise Yourself.

Courage And Wisdom Are, Indeed, Rarities Amongst Men, But Of All That Is Good, A Just Man It Would Seem Is The Most Scarce.

Themistocles Being Asked Whether He Would Rather Be Achilles Or Homer, Said, "which Would You Rather Be, A Conqueror In The Olympic Games, Or The Crier That Proclaims Who Are Conquerors?

Reason Speaks And Feeling Bites

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

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

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.

When Demosthenes Was Asked What Were The Three Most Important Aspects Of Oratory, He Answered, 'action, Action, Action.'

A Roman Divorced From His Wife, Being Highly Blamed By His Friends, Who Demanded, "was She Not Chaste? Was She Not Fair? Was She Not Fruitful?" Holding Out His Shoe, Asked Them Whether It Was Not New And Well Made. "yet," Added He, "none Of You Can Tell Where It Pinches Me.''

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

A Healer Of Others, Himself Diseased.

All Men Whilst They Are Awake Are In One Common World: But Each Of Them, When He Is Asleep, Is In A World Of His Own.

It Is A Difficult Task, O Citizens, To Make Speeches To The Belly, Which Has No Ears.

I, For My Own Part, Had Much Rather People Should Say Of Me That There Neither Is Nor Ever Was Such A Man As Plutarch, Than That They Should Say, "plutarch Is An Unsteady, Fickle, Froward, Vindictive, And Touchy Fellow.

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.

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

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."

Philosophy Is An Act Of Living.

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.

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

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.

For The Mind Does Not Require Filling Like A Bottle, But Rather, Like Wood, It Only Requires Kindling To Create In It An Impulse To Think Independently And An Ardent Desire For The Truth.

Time Is The Wisest Of All Counselors.

Time Management

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

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.

Those Who Aim At Great Deeds Must Also Suffer Greatly.

Extraordinary Rains Pretty Generally Fall After Great Battles.

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

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

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

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

The Ripeness Of Adolescence Is Prodigal In Pleasures, Skittish, And In Need Of A Bridle.

Prosperity Has This Property, It Puffs Up Narrow Souls, Makes Them Imagine Themselves High And Mighty, And Look Down Upon The World With Contempt; But A Truly Noble And Resolved Spirit Appears Greatest In Distress, And Then Becomes More Bright And Conspicuous.

A Fool Cannot Hold His Tongue.

The Man Who Is Completely Wise And Virtuous Has No Need Of Glory, Except So Far As It Disposes And Eases His Way To Action By The Greater Trust That It Procures Him.

Beauty Is The Flower Of Virtue.

When The Strong Box Contains No More Both Friends And Flatterers Shun The Door.

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

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."

Grief Is Natural; The Absence Of All Feeling Is Undesirable, But Moderation In Grief Should Be Observed, As In The Face Of All Good Or Evil.

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

Economic Inequality

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.

To Conduct Great Matters And Never Commit A Fault Is Above The Force Of Human Nature.

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.

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.

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

If Nature Be Not Improved By Instruction, It Is Blind; If Instruction Be Not Assisted By Nature, It Is Maimed; And If Exercise Fail Of The Assistance Of Both, It Is Imperfect.

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

As Bees Extract Honey From Thyme, The Strongest And Driest Of Herbs, So Sensible Men Often Get Advantage And Profit From The Most Awkward Circumstances.

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.

The Superstitious Man Wishes He Did Not Believe In Gods, As The Atheist Does Not, But Fears To Disbelieve In Them.

A Friend Should Be Like Money, Tried Before Being Required, Not Found Faulty In Our Need.

When Philip Had News Brought Him Of Divers And Eminent Successes In One Day, "o Fortune!" Said He, "for All These So Great Kindnesses Do Me Some Small Mischief.

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.

Silence Is An Answer To A Wise Man.

There Is No Perfecter Endowment In Man Than Political Virtue.

What We Achieve Inwardly Will Change Outer Reality.

Xenophon Says That There Is No Sound More Pleasing Than One's Own Praises.

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

Nor Is Drunkenness Censured For Anything So Much As Its Intemperate And Endless Talk.

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

What Is Bigger Than An Elephant? But This Also Is Become Man's Plaything, And A Spectacle At Public Solemnities; And It Learns To Skip, Dance, And Kneel

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

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.

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

Philosophy Is The Art Of Living.

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.

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

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

Pompey Bade Sylla Recollect That More Worshipped The Rising Than The Setting Sun.

Euripides Was Wont To Say, Silence Was An Answer To A Wise Man; But We Seem To Have Greater Occasion For It In Our Dealing With Fools And Unreasonable Persons; For Men Of Breeding And Sense Will Be Satisfied With Reason And Fair Words.

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

Either Is Both, And Both Is Neither.

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

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

Grief Is Like A Physical Pain Which Must Be Allowed To Subside Somewhat On Its Own Before Medical Treatment Is Applied.

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

For The Rich Men Without Scruple Drew The Estate Into Their Own Hands, Excluding The Rightful Heirs From Their Succession; And All The Wealth Being Centred Upon The Few, The Generality Were Poor And Miserable. Honourable Pursuits, For Which There Was No Longer Leisure, Were Neglected; The State Was Filled With Sordid Business, And With Hatred And Envy Of The Rich.

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

Good Birth Is A Fine Thing, But The Merit Is Our Ancestors.

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.

Lampis, The Sea Commander, Being Asked How He Got His Wealth, Answered, "my Greatest Estate I Gained Easily Enough, But The Smaller Slowly And With Much Labour.

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

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.

What Most Of All Enables A Man To Serve The Public Is Not Wealth, But Content And Independence; Which, Requiring No Superfluity At Home, Distracts Not The Mind From The Common Good.

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.

When Eudæmonidas Heard A Philosopher Arguing That Only A Wise Man Can Be A Good General, "this Is A Wonderful Speech," Said He; "but He That Saith It Never Heard The Sound Of Trumpets.

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.

For The Wise Man, Every Day Is A Festival.

... 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.

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?

If You Light Upon An Impertinent Talker, That Sticks To You Like A Bur, To The Disappointment Of Your Important Occasions, Deal Freely With Him, Break Off The Discourse, And Pursue Your Business.

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

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.

When Anaxagoras Was Told Of The Death Of His Son, He Only Said, "i Knew He Was Mortal." So We In All Casualties Of Life Should Say "i Knew My Riches Were Uncertain, That My Friend Was But A Man." Such Considerations Would Soon Pacify Us, Because All Our Troubles Proceed From Their Being Unexpected.

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.

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.

He (cato) Never Gave His Opinion In The Senate Upon Any Other Point Whatever, Without Adding These Words, "and, In My Opinion Carthage Should Be Destroyed." ["delenda Est Carthago."]

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.

When Demaratus Was Asked Whether He Held His Tongue Because He Was A Fool Or For Want Of Words, He Replied, "a Fool Cannot Hold His Tongue.

Philosophy Finds Talkativeness A Disease Very Difficult And Hard To Cure. For Its Remedy, Conversation, Requires Hearers: But Talkative People Hear Nobody, For They Are Ever Prating. And The First Evil This Inability To Keep Silence Produces Is An Inability To Listen.

Being Conscious Of Having Done A Wicked Action Leaves Stings Of Remorse Behind It, Which, Like An Ulcer In The Flesh, Makes The Mind Smart With Perpetual Wounds; For Reason, Which Chases Away All Other Pains, Creates Repentance, Shames The Soul With Confusion, And Punishes It With Torment.

I Do Not Think That Shoemaker A Good Workman That Makes A Great Shoe For A Little Foot.

I Am All That Hath Been, And Is, And Shall Be; And My Veil No Mortal Has Hitherto Raised.

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.

Once When Phocion Had Delivered An Opinion Which Pleased The People, He Turned To His Friend And Said, "have I Not Unawares Spoken Some Mischievous Thing Or Other?"

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.

Nature And Wisdom Never Are At Strife.

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?

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

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

Seeing The Lightest And Gayest Purple Was Then Most In Fashion, He Would Always Wear That Which Was The Nearest Black; And He Would Often Go Out Of Doors, After His Morning Meal, Without Either Shoes Or Tunic; Not That He Sought Vain-glory From Such Novelties, But He Would Accustom Himself To Be Ashamed Only Of What Deserves Shame, And To Despise All Other Sorts Of Disgrace.

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

A Locanian Having Plucked All The Feathers Off From A Nightingale And Seeing What A Little Body It Had, "surely," Quoth He, "thou Art All Voice And Nothing Else.

Lysander Said That The Law Spoke Too Softly To Be Heard In Such A Noise Of War.

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.

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

The Wildest Colts Make The Best Horses.

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.

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

Gout Is Not Relieved By A Fine Shoe Nor A Hangnail By A Costly Ring Nor Migraine By A Tiara.

Memory: What Wonders It Performs In Preserving And Storing Up Things Gone By - Or Rather, Things That Are

Talkativeness Has Another Plague Attached To It, Even Curiosity; For Praters Wish To Hear Much That They May Have Much To Say.

It Is 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 It's Place Is A Work Extremely Troublesome.

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

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.

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

Pythagoras, When He Was Asked What Time Was, Answered That It Was The Soul Of This World.

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."

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?

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

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

Nature Without Learning Is Blind, Learning Apart From Nature Is Fractional, And Practice In The Absence Of Both Is Aimless.

Justice Makes The Life Of Such As Are In Prosperity, Power And Authority The Life Of A God, And Injustice Turns It To That Of A Beast.

It Is Wise To Be Silent When Occasion Requires, And Better Than To Speak, Though Never So Well.

He Who Least Likes Courting Favour, Ought Also Least To Think Of Resenting Neglect; To Feel Wounded At Being Refused A Distinction Can Only Arise From An Overweening Appetite To Have It.

Empire May Be Gained By Gold, Not Gold By Empire. It Used, Indeed, To Be A Proverb That "it Is Not Philip, But Philip's Gold That Takes The Cities Of Greece.

The Richest Soil, If Uncultivated, Produces The Rankest Weeds.

He Who Cheats With An Oath Acknowledges That He Is Afraid Of His Enemy, But That He Thinks Little Of God.

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

Distressed Valor Challenges Great Respect, Even From An Enemy.

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

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

That We May Consult Concerning Others, And Not Others Concerning Us.

The Flatterer's Object Is To Please In Everything He Does; Whereas The True Friend Always Does What Is Right, And So Often Gives Pleasure, Often Pain, Not Wishing The Latter, But Not Shunning It Either, If He Deems It Best.

He Shall Fare Well Who Confronts Circumstances Aright.

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.

Foreign Lady Once Remarked To The Wife Of A Spartan Commander That The Women Of Sparta Were The Only Women In The World Who Could Rule Men. "we Are The Only Women Who Raise Men," The Spartan Lady Replied.

He Is A Fool Who Lets Slip A Bird In The Hand For A Bird In The Bush.

When I Myself Had Twice Or Thrice Made A Resolute Resistance Unto Anger, The Like Befell Me That Did The Thebans; Who, Having Once Foiled The Lacedaemonians (who Before That Time Had Held Themselves Invincible), Never After Lost So Much As One Battle Which They Fought Against Them.

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.

Education And Study, And The Favors Of The Muses, Confer No Greater Benefit On Those That Seek Them Than These Humanizing And Civilizing Lessons, Which Teach Our Natural Qualities To Submit To The Limitations Prescribed By Reason, And To Avoid The Wildness Of Extremes.

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

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.

Poverty Is Not Dishonorable In Itself, But Only When It Comes From Idleness, Intemperance, Extravagance, And Folly.

Spintharus, Speaking In Commendation Of Epaminondas, Says He Scarce Ever Met With Any Man Who Knew More And Spoke Less.

What All The World Knows Water Is The Principle, Or The Element, Of Things. All Things Are Water.

It Is No Disgrace Not To Be Able To Do Everything; But To Undertake, Or Pretend To Do, What You Are Not Made For, Is Not Only Shameful, But Extremely Troublesome And Vexatious.

Custom Is Almost A Second Nature.

When A Man's Eyes Are Sore His Friends Do Not Let Him Finger Them, However Much He Wishes To, Nor Do They Themselves Touch The Inflammation: But A Man Sunk In Grief Suffers Every Chance Comer To Stir And Augment His Affliction Like A Running Sore; And By Reason Of The Fingering And Consequent Irritation It Hardens Into A Serious And Intractable Evil.

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.

Character Is Long-standing Habit.

No Beast Is More Savage Than Man When Possessed With Power Answerable To His Rage.

The Great God Pan Is Dead.

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?

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.

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

Measure Of A Man

Words Will Build No Walls.

Note That The Eating Of Flesh Is Not Only Physically Against Nature, But It Also Makes Us Spiritually Coarse And Gross By Reason Of Satiety And Surfeit.

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

Trending Author

Douglas William Jerrold

Category