Background Image

...

Solon Being Asked, Namely, What City Was Best To Live In. That City, He Replied, In Which Those Who Are Not Wronged, No Less Than Those Who Are Wronged, Exert Themselves To Punish The Wrongdoers.

-Plutarch

...

Please Wait....
Translating....

Solon Being Asked, Namely,

Plutarch

...

Solon Being Asked, Namely, What City Was Best To Live In. That City, He Replied, In Which Those Who Are Not Wronged, No Less Than Those Who Are Wronged, Exert Themselves To Punish The Wrongdoers.

Views: 6

Topic

More From Plutarch

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

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

It Was Not Important How Many Enemies There Are, But Where The Enemy Is

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

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

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.

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.

Do Not Speak Of Your Happiness To One Less Fortunate Than Yourself.

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?

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

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

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.

Character Is Inured Habit.

A Physician, After He Had Felt The Pulse Of Pausanias, And Considered His Constitution, Saying, "he Ails Nothing," "it Is Because, Sir," He Replied, "i Use None Of Your Physic."

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

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.

It Is Not Histories I Am Writing, But Lives; And In The Most Glorious Deeds There Is Not Always An Indication Of Virtue Or Vice, Indeed A Small Thing Like A Phrase Or A Jest Often Makes A Greater Revelation Of A Character Than Battles Where Thousands Die.

He Who Owns A Hundred Sheep Must Fight With Fifty Wolves

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

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.

I See The Cure Is Not Worth The Pain.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Knowledge Of Divine Things For The Most Part, As Heraclitus Says, Is Lost To Us By Incredulity.

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

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.

It Is No Great Wonder If In Long Process Of Time, While Fortune Takes Her Course Hither And Thither, Numerous Coincidences Should Spontaneously Occur. If The Number And Variety Of Subjects To Be Wrought Upon Be Infinite, It Is All The More Easy For Fortune, With Such An Abundance Of Material, To Effect This Similarity Of Results.

Someone Praising A Man For His Foolhardy Bravery, Cato, The Elder, Said, ''there Is A Wide Difference Between True Courage And A Mere Contempt Of Life.

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

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

Those Who Aim At Great Deeds Must Also Suffer Greatly.

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

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

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

Nothing Can Produce So Great A Serenity Of Life As A Mind Free From Guilt And Kept Untainted, Not Only From Actions, But Purposes That Are Wicked. By This Means The Soul Will Be Not Only Unpolluted But Also Undisturbed. The Fountain Will Run Clear And Unsullied.

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

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

They Are Wrong Who Think That Politics Is Like An Ocean Voyage Or A Military Campaign, Something To Be Done With Some Particular End In View, Something Which Leaves Off As Soon As That End Is Reached. It Is Not A Public Chore, To Be Got Over With. It Is A Way Of Life. It Is The Life Of A Domesticated Political And Social Creature Who Is Born With A Love For Public Life, With A Desire For Honor, With A Feeling For His Fellows; And It Lasts As Long As Need Be.

What Sort Of Tree Is There Which Will Not, If Neglected, Grow Crooked And Unfruitful; What But Will, If Rightly Ordered, Prove Productive And Bring Its Fruit To Maturity? What Strength Of Body Is There Which Will Not Lose Its Vigor And Fall To Decay By Laziness, Nice Usage, And Debauchery?

When Malice Is Joined To Envy, There Is Given Forth Poisonous And Feculent Matter, As Ink From The Cuttle-fish.

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.

Extraordinary Rains Pretty Generally Fall After Great Battles.

Either Is Both, And Both Is Neither.

Abstruse Questions Must Have Abstruse Answers.

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.

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

Sometimes Small Incidents, Rather Than Glorious Exploits, Give Us The Best Evidence Of Character. So, As Portrait Painters Are More Exact In Doing The Face, Where The Character Is Revealed, Than The Rest Of The Body, I Must Be Allowed To Give My More Particular Attention To The Marks Of The Souls Of Men.

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?

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.

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

He (cato) Used To Say That In All His Life He Never Repented But Of Three Things. The First Was That He Had Trusted A Woman With A Secret; The Second That He Had Gone By Sea When He Might Have Gone By Land; And The Third, That Had Passed One Day Without Having A Will By Him.

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

When One Is Transported By Rage, It Is Best To Observe Attentively The Effects On Those Who Deliver Themselves Over To The Same Passion.

Perseverance Is More Prevailing Than Violence; And Many Things Which Cannot Be Overcome When They Are Together, Yield Themselves Up When Taken Little By Little.

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

Painting Is Silent Poetry, And Poetry Is Painting That Speaks.

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

The Giving Of Riches And Honors To A Wicked Man Is Like Giving Strong Wine To Him That Hath A Fever.

Know How To Listen, And You Will Profit Even From Those Who Talk Badly.

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

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.

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

Pythias Once, Scoffing At Demosthenes, Said That His Arguments Smelt Of The Lamp.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

The Same Intelligence Is Required To Marshal An Army In Battle And To Order A Good Dinner. The First Must Be As Formidable As Possible, The Second As Pleasant As Possible, To The Participants.

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.

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 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.''

Barba Non Facit Philosophum

Philosophy Is The Art Of Living.

Instead Of Using Medicine, Better Fast Today.

Where The Lion's Skin Will Not Reach, You Must Patch It Out With The Fox's.

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.

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

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

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.

Philosophy Is An Act Of Living.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

Friendship Requires A Steady, Constant, And Unchangeable Character, A Person That Is Uniform In His Intimacy.

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

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.

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 . . . There Is Nobody That Is Willing To Eat Even A Lifeless And A Dead Thing Even As It Is; So They Boil It, And Roast It, And Alter It By Fire And Medicines, As It Were, Changing And Quenching The Slaughtered Gore With Thousands Of Sweet Sauces, That The Palate Being Thereby Deceived May Admit Of Such Uncouth Fare.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

Measure Of A Man

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.

I Have Heard That Tiberius Used To Say That That Man Was Ridiculous, Who After Sixth Years, Appealed To A Physician.

Painting Is Silent Poetry.

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?

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.

What Can They Suffer That Do Not Fear To Die?

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?"

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

He Shall Fare Well Who Confronts Circumstances Aright.

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

Pittacus Said, "every One Of You Hath His Particular Plague, And My Wife Is Mine; And He Is Very Happy Who Hath This Only".

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.

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."

Not By Lamentations And Mournful Chants Ought We To Celebrate The Funeral Of A Good Man, But By Hymns, For In Ceasing To Be Numbered With Mortals He Enters Upon The Heritage Of A Diviner Life.

God Is The Brave Man's Hope, And Not The Coward's Excuse.

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

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.

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

Character Is Simply Habit Long Continued.

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

Antisthenes Says That In A Certain Faraway Land The Cold Is So Intense That Words Freeze As Soon As They Are Uttered, And After Some Time Then Thaw And Become Audible, So That Words Spoken In Winter Go Unheard Until The Next Summer.

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

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

The Great God Pan Is Dead.

Were It Only To Learn Benevolence To Humankind, We Should Be Merciful To Other Creatures.

Come Back With Your Shield - Or On It

Words Will Build No Walls.

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.

Lycurgus Being Asked Why He, Who In Other Respects Appeared To Be So Zealous For The Equal Rights Of Men, Did Not Make His Government Democratical Rather Than Oligarchical, "go You," Replied The Legislator, "and Try A Democracy In Your Own House.

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.

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.

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.

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

Pompey Had Fought Brilliantly And In The End Routed Caesar's Whole Force... But Either He Was Unable To Or Else He Feared To Push On. Caesar [said] To His Friends: 'today The Enemy Would Have Won, If They Had Had A Commander Who Was A Winner.'

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

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.

Our Nature Holds So Much Envy And Malice That Our Pleasure In Our Own Advantages Is Not So Great As Our Distress At Others'.

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.

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

As In The Case Of Painters, Who Have Undertaken To Give Us A Beautiful And Graceful Figure, Which May Have Some Slight Blemishes, We Do Not Wish Then To Pass Over Such Blemishes Altogether, Nor Yet To Mark Them Too Prominently. The One Would Spoil The Beauty, And The Other Destroy The Likeness Of The Picture.

Wise Men Are Able To Make A Fitting Use Even Of Their Enmities.

Lying Is A Most Disgraceful Vice; It First Despises God, And Then Fears Men.

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.

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."]

Nature And Wisdom Never Are At Strife.

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.

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

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.

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."

A Fool Cannot Hold His Tongue.

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.

The Present Offers Itself To Our Touch For Only An Instant Of Time And Then Eludes The Senses.

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.

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

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!".

For The Wise Man, Every Day Is A Festival.

Distressed Valor Challenges Great Respect, Even From An Enemy.

Time Which Diminishes All Things Increases Understanding For The Aging.

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.'

To One That Promised To Give Him Hardy Cocks That Would Die Fighting, "prithee," Said Cleomenes, "give Me Cocks That Will Kill Fighting.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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."

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

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

The Wildest Colts Make The Best Horses.

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

The Generous Mind Adds Dignity To Every Act, And Nothing Misbecomes It.

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.

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

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.

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.

Thrasyllus The Cynic Begged A Drachm Of Antigonus. "that," Said He, "is Too Little For A King To Give." "why, Then," Said The Other, "give Me A Talent." "and That," Said He, "is Too Much For A Cynic (or, For A Dog) To Receive."

Beauty Is The Flower Of Virtue.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

When Men Are Arrived At The Goal, They Should Not Turn Back.

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.

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

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?

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

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.

What We Achieve Inwardly Will Change Outer Reality.

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.

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

There Is Never The Body Of A Man, How Strong And Stout Soever, If It Be Troubled And Inflamed, But Will Take More Harm And Offense By Wine Being Poured Into It.

Neither Blame Or Praise Yourself.

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?

Trending Author

Philip Massinger

Category