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Plutarch Quotes (120-)
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About Plutarch
Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus (c. 46 – 120) was a Greek historian, biographer, and essayist.
Best Plutarch Quotes
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Explore our curated collection of the most famous and impactful Plutarch quotes.
“Be ruled by time, the wisest counsellor of all.”
“"These Macedonians," said he, "are a rude and clownish people, that call a spade a spade."”
“King Agis said, "The Lacedæmonians are not wont to ask how many, but where the enemy are."”
“He said they that were serious in ridiculous matters would be ridiculous in serious affairs.”
“Cicero said loud-bawling orators were driven by their weakness to noise, as lame men to take horse.”
“Authority and place demonstrate and try the tempers of men, by moving every passion and discovering every frailty.”
“Cato requested old men not to add the disgrace of wickedness to old age, which was accompanied with many other evils.”
“As Cæsar was at supper the discourse was of death,—which sort was the best. "That," said he, "which is unexpected."”
“Phocion compared the speeches of Leosthenes to cypress-trees. "They are tall," said he, "and comely, but bear no fruit."”
“Philip being arbitrator betwixt two wicked persons, he commanded one to fly out of Macedonia and the other to pursue him.”
Plutarch Quotes by Topic
Find exactly what you are looking for by browsing this categorized list of Plutarch quotes by topic.
Plutarch on Sparta 4 quotes
“Their [Lacadaemonian] women, it is said, were bold and masculine, overbearing to their husbands in the first place, absolute mistresses in their houses, giving their opinions about public matters freely, and speaking openly even on the most important subjects.”
Plutarch on Education 3 quotes
View all 3 quotes on Education →Plutarch on Public speaking 3 quotes
“Also the two-edged tongue of mighty Zeno, who, Say what one would, could argue it untrue.”
Plutarch on Partridge 3 quotes
“If [the magistrate] discovers a young man in the house of a rich and elderly woman, waxing fat, like a cock-partridge, in her service, he will remove him and give him to some marriageable maid that wants a husband.”
Plutarch on Sacrifice 2 quotes
View all 2 quotes on Sacrifice →Plutarch on Perseverance 2 quotes
“Water continually dropping will wear hard rocks hollow.”
Plutarch on Deity 2 quotes
“Thamus … uttered with a loud voice his message, "The great Pan is dead."”
Plutarch on Silence 2 quotes
“Said Periander, "Hesiod might as well have kept his breath to cool his pottage."”
Plutarch on Opinion 2 quotes
“For to err in opinion, though it be not the part of wise men, is at least human.”
Plutarch on Speech 2 quotes
“In their declamations and speeches they made use of words to veil and muffle their design.”
Plutarch on Suspicion 2 quotes
“Julius Cæsar 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."”
What Plutarch Said About Others
Discover personal opinions Plutarch shared regarding contemporaries.
Plutarch on Solon 4 quotes
“Wealth I desire to have; but wrongfully to get it, I do not wish. Justice, even if slow, is sure.”
Plutarch on Theseus 2 quotes
“From Themistocles began the saying, "He is a second Hercules."”
Plutarch on Diogenes of Sinope 2 quotes
“Aristotle dines when it seems good to King Philip, but Diogenes when he himself pleases.”
Plutarch on Cleopatra 2 quotes
“It was a pleasure merely to hear the sound of her voice, with which, like an instrument of many strings, she could pass from one language to another; so that there were few of the barbarian nations that she answered by an interpreter.”
Plutarch on Melissus of Samos 2 quotes
“[W]hen in company where people engaged themselves in what are commonly thought the liberal and elegant amusements, he was obliged to defend himself against the observations of those who considered themselves highly accomplished, by the somewhat arrogant retort, that he certainly could not make use of any stringed instrument, could only, were a small and obscure city put into his hands, make it great and glorious. Notwithstanding this, Stesimbrotus says that Themistocles was a hearer of Anaxagoras, and that he studied natural philosophy under Melissus, contrary to chronology; for Melissus commanded the Samians in their siege by Pericles, who was much Themistocles's junior; and with Pericles, also, Anaxagoras was intimate.”
Plutarch on Cato the Elder
Plutarch on Cicero
“Dryden's translation of Cicero from Plutarch's Parallel Lives”
Plutarch on Pythagoras
“It was through philosophy, he said, that he had come to be surprised at nothing.”
Plutarch on Socrates
Plutarch on Sappho
“Sappho speaks words mingled truly with fire; through her song she communicates the heat of her heart.”
Plutarch on Anaximander
“Anaximander the Milesian, affirmed the infinite to be the first principle, and that all things are generated out of it, and corrupted again into it. His infinite is nothing else but matter.”
Quotes About Plutarch
Gain deeper perspective through quotes about Plutarch from others.
Jacques Amyot on Plutarch
“[Plutarch's Parallel Lives contain] so many beautiful and serious discourses throughout, derived from the deepest and most hidden secrets of moral and natural philosophy, so many wise warnings, and fruitful advice.”
David Chytraeus on Plutarch
David Lloyd on Plutarch
“[Plutarch's works contains] the sum of Greek and Latin history made up of great maxims and greater instances, noble precepts and nobler examples, set off with...vigorous eloquence.”
Michel de Montaigne on Plutarch 3 quotes
“My very own Plutarch – so perfect, so outstanding a judge of human actions.”
Henry Stephens Salt on Plutarch
“In the writings of such "pagan" philosophers as Plutarch and Porphyry we find a humanitarian ethic of the most exalted kind, which, after undergoing a long repression during medieval churchdom, reappeared, albeit but weakly and fitfully at first, in the literature of the Renaissance, to be traced more definitely in the eighteenth century school of "sensibility."”
Francesco Sansovino on Plutarch
“[I]t is extremely difficult to say whether he wishes to expound moral philosophy with historical examples, or decorate the narration of important affairs...with philosophical arguments.”
About Plutarch
Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus (c. 46 – 120) was a Greek historian, biographer, and essayist.