Men Quotes by Plutarch

The whole life of man is but a point of time; let us enjoy it.

— Plutarch

God is the brave man's hope, and not the coward's excuse.

— Plutarch

No beast is more savage than man when possessed with power answerable to his rage.

— Plutarch

When a man's struggle begins within oneself, the man is worth something.

— Plutarch

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

— Plutarch

Apothegms are the most infallible mirror to represent a man truly what he is.

— Plutarch

When men are arrived at the goal, they should not turn back.

— Plutarch

Water and our necessary food are the only things that wise men must fight for.

— Plutarch

Authority and place demonstrate and try the tempers of men, by moving every passion and discovering every frailty.

— Plutarch

The most glorious exploits do not always furnish us with the clearest discoveries of virtue or vice in men.

— Plutarch

The giving of riches and honors to a wicked man is like giving strong wine to him that hath a fever.

— Plutarch

As Meander says, "For our mind is God;" and as Heraclitus, "Man's genius is a deity."

— Plutarch

All men whilst they are awake are in one common world: but each of them, when he is asleep, is in a…

— Plutarch

To be ignorant of the lives of the most celebrated men of antiquity is to continue in a state of childhood all…

— Plutarch

Man is neither by birth nor disposition a savage, nor of unsocial habits, but only becomes so by indulging in vices contrary…

— Plutarch

The man who first brought ruin upon the Roman people was he who pampered them by largesses and amusements.

— Plutarch

Foreign lady once remarked to the wife of a Spartan commander that the women of Sparta were the only women in the…

— Plutarch

I, for my own part, had much rather people should say of me that there neither is nor ever was such a…

— Plutarch

Lycurgus being asked why he, who in other respects appeared to be so zealous for the equal rights of men, did not…

— Plutarch

Had I a careful and pleasant companion that should show me my angry face in a glass, I should not at all…

— Plutarch

It is not the most distinguished achievements that men's virtues or vices may be best discovered; but very often an action of…

— Plutarch

Blinded as they are to their true character by self-love, every man is his own first and chiefest flatterer, prepared, therefore, to…

— Plutarch

To do an evil action is base; to do a good action without incurring danger is common enough; but it is the…

— Plutarch

Euripides was wont to say, silence was an answer to a wise man; but we seem to have greater occasion for it…

— Plutarch

“When a man's eyes are sore his friends do not let him finger them, however much he wishes to, nor do they…

— Plutarch

By the study of their biographies, we receive each man as a guest into our minds, and we seem to understand their…

— Plutarch

The first man . . . ventured to call food and nourishment the parts that had a little before bellowed and cried,…

— Plutarch

For the rich men without scruple drew the estate into their own hands, excluding the rightful heirs from their succession; and all…

— Plutarch

Not by lamentations and mournful chants ought we to celebrate the funeral of a good man, but by hymns; for, ion ceasing…

— Plutarch

Of the land which the Romans gained by conquest from their neighbours, part they sold publicly, and turned the remainder into common;…

— Plutarch

For the wise man, every day is a festival.

— Plutarch

There is no perfecter endowment in man than political virtue.

— Plutarch

The measure of a man's life is the well spending of it, and not the length.

— Plutarch

Agesilaus being invited once to hear a man who admirably imitated the nightingale, he declined, saying he had heard the nightingale itself.

— Plutarch

Friendship is the most pleasant of all things, and nothing more glads the heart of man.

— Plutarch

As bees extract honey from thyme, the strongest and driest of herbs, so sensible men often get advantage and profit from the…

— Plutarch

The man who is completely wise and virtuous has no need of glory, except so far as it disposes and eases his…

— Plutarch

They fought indeed and were slain, but it was to maintain the luxury and the wealth of other men.

— Plutarch

For man is a plant, not fixed in the earth, nor immovable, but heavenly, whose head, rising as it were from a…

— Plutarch

Cicero said loud-bawling orators were driven by their weakness to noise, as lame men to take horse.

— Plutarch