Thus the ambitious, in attaching themselves to glory, embrace but a semblance of virtue, and produce nothing pure [...].
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
Plutarque
Plutarch (c. 46 – c. 120 AD) was a Greek philosopher, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi.
This is [...] the condition of those who govern according to the desires [...] of the multitude: they reduce themselves to slavery [...] for the vain title of leaders of the people.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
The man of proven and perfect virtue desires no other glory than that which is the fruit of public trust, and which opens the way for him to great undertakings.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
Excess, dangerous in everything, is fatal in political rivalries: it drives to madness [...] those who [...] want virtue to be attached to glory, and not glory to virtue.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
I cannot [...] be your friend and your flatterer at the same time.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
I cannot be at the same time your magistrate and your slave.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
[...] wealth was soon concentrated in the hands of a few citizens, and poverty settled in the city [...], and brought with it hatred and envy against the rich.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
If I elevate myself, through my temperance, my frugality, and my greatness of soul [...] I will rightly obtain the renown and glory of a great king.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
It is extremely difficult to change the constitution of a city without using violence and fear.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
[...] fear is [...] the most powerful bond of political societies.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
The men who tremble most before the laws are the most intrepid against the enemy; and those who most dread suffering are those who least fear blame.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
The greatest difference that exists between a friend and a mercenary is that the lure of the latter is interest, while the attraction of the former is moral honesty and wisdom in discourse.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
He called Antigonus into Greece, and filled the Peloponnese with Macedonians, he who had driven them out in his youth [...].
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
He who first said that money was the sinew of business, said it, in my opinion, principally in relation to war.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
Fortune, which delights in making the decision of the most important affairs depend on a single moment, showed on this occasion the weight and influence of time.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
The city was merely exchanging one tyranny for another.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
Corinth had always shown a deep love for liberty, and an equally strong hatred for tyranny: it had undertaken almost all its wars [...] not to dominate peoples, [...] but in the interest of the freedom of the Greeks.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
A passionate lover of his country, he was of a singular gentleness, except for a violent hatred against tyranny and wicked men.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
He preferred his country to his family; to his personal interest, that which was beautiful and just.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
It is not enough that an action be beautiful and just; the thought which determines it must also be firm and unwavering; one must act only after mature consideration.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
Repentance makes even the good we have done seem ugly in our eyes; but a determination based on reasoned conviction never wavers, even when our undertakings have failed.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
I would rather see my daughter dead than the wife of a tyrant.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
I am afflicted [...] by the misfortune that has befallen me; but I do not repent of what I have said.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
Of all the evils with which tyranny is filled, the worst without a doubt is that among those who call themselves friends of the tyrant, there is not a single one who speaks with frankness.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
one admired with what skill Fortune knows how to bring about one thing through another, to bring together the most distant facts, to link them with the same chain, when they seemed to differ most from one another [...].
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
he invited, by public proclamation, all the Syracusans to come with iron tools to demolish the fortresses of tyranny.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
the public square of Syracuse had become deserted, and the grass there was so high that it served as pasture for the horses, and as a bed for the grooms.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
Most men feel more wounded by insults than by offensive actions, and find a mark of contempt harder to bear than actual harm.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
He was led to the theater, and all the children were brought from the schools to witness the most beautiful of spectacles, the punishment of a tyrant.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
If I have voluntarily braved so many dangers [...] it was so that every citizen would have the freedom to uphold the laws.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
[He] had that natural quality which, according to Plato, constitutes literary and philosophical aptitude: he was capable of embracing all sciences, and disdained no kind of study or literary knowledge.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
I praise and admire you; but I pity the fate of Greece, seeing that the only advantages that remained to us, knowledge and eloquence, will, through you, pass over to the Romans as well.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
[One can rise to the pinnacle of glory] by taking one's own nature as the guide for one's life, and not the opinion of the multitude.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
It is out of weakness that they shout, he said, just as the lame get on horseback because they cannot walk.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
[He] felt that the glory to which he aspired was a limitless thing, and had no end that one could reach.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
[It is shameful] that a statesman, whose public functions are exercised only through the agency of men, should be lazy and negligent in knowing his fellow citizens.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
[He] best made the Romans feel what charm eloquence adds to moral beauty, and that right is invincible when it is supported by the talent of speech.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
The statesman who wishes to govern well must, in his public conduct, always prefer what is honest to what is flattering; but he must also, in his speeches, temper with gentleness of language the severity of the actions he proposes.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
To overthrow the sick government, nothing more was needed than a slight push from the first bold person to come along.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
What was found admirable was not to have prevented the execution of the plot [...], but to have been able to stifle, by the least violent means, the vastest conspiracy [...] without sedition or turmoil.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
There is no ferocious animal more cruel than man when he has the power to satisfy his passion.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
Opinion has all too much power to erase from our soul the impressions of reason [...].
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
[...] Caesar's wife must be free not only from any shameful action, but also from any suspicion.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
[...] he desired, as much as anyone, the return to the old order of things. But the conspirators did not dare to trust a timid character like his, a man already of that age which robs even the most vigorous souls of audacity and firmness.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
He did not cease [...] to advise peace: he wrote frequently to Caesar; he made strong entreaties to Pompey, neglecting nothing to soften both rivals and calm their disagreements.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
Hair [...] enhances the splendor of beauty, and makes ugliness more terrible.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
[His] courage [...] knew no other pleasure than that given by public esteem, which is the prize for noble deeds.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
Children must, from the most tender age, be sensitive to glory, be saddened by reprimands, and take pride in praise.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
Aristotle [...] expressing the opinion that great natures are melancholic, reports that Lysander [...] upon approaching old age, fell into melancholy.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
He who so nobly endured poverty [...] filled his country with riches and greedy passions.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
He did not believe that truth was in itself preferable to falsehood, and measured the value of one and the other by the profit he derived from it.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
Wherever [...] the lion's skin cannot reach, one must sew on the fox's.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
One must [...] deceive children with knucklebones, and men with oaths.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
He who deceives by perjury declares that he fears his enemy and despises the divinity.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
The corruption of public morals infiltrates the conduct of individuals much more quickly than the vices of individuals fill cities with depravity.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
Greece could not have endured two Lysanders.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
Stranger, [...] your words are in need of a city.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
Ambitious characters [...] find, in the jealousy inspired in them against their equals by the love of glory, a great obstacle to the noble deeds they could perform.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
Yes, [he said], when they want to be greater than me; but those who work to increase my power, it is also just to let them share in it.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
Instead of unearthing Lysander, it was better to bury with him a speech written with such art, and too capable of persuading.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
To set out, of one's own accord, to undertake great things.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
The fear of the ultimate punishment pushed him [...] to great undertakings.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
A great proof of [...] superiority is that, without having received any personal insult, he ran up against the wicked for the interest of others.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
Philosophers were not wrong [...] to define love as an undertaking of the gods for the safety and preservation of the young.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
[...] what she loved was the beautiful, it was the good, it was a hero.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
The first duty of a commander is to preserve the State [...].
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
If he slackens or stiffens too much, [the leader] ceases to be a king [...]; he becomes a flatterer or a despot, and draws upon himself their hatred or contempt.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
We must not hold Fortune alone responsible for the misfortunes of men; [...] we must look for the part played in them by the disorders of the heart and of reason.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
[He yielded] to powers that very few men have been able to overcome: love, jealousy, and a woman's slander.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
The anger [...] was confined to words, insults, curses, the ordinary vengeance of old men.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
[They] set free, before being free themselves, almost all the peoples of Latium [...].
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
[...] this violence and this injustice had been, with a view to an alliance, a work of high wisdom and good politics.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
Time is a sure witness to modesty, love, and constancy [...].
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
It was [...] the source of the mutual benevolence that [the two peoples] have shown each other since, and of the very power of [the kingdom].
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
One can therefore suspect him of having followed only a disorderly passion and the attraction of pleasure.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
Authority [...] was shared with others, while the glory remained his own, even when he had colleagues. It was [...] the effect of his moderation [...] and the fruit of his prudence.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
He wished to exercise power without arousing envy.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
For men of heart, war itself has laws: one must not desire victory so much as to no longer shrink from seeking it by criminal and impious means.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
It is by his own valor that a great general wages war, and not by the wickedness of others.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
In such matters, there is as much peril in believing everything as in believing nothing [...]. Reserve and moderation are the wisest course.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
You follow the most ancient of all laws, that which gives to the strongest the goods of the weakest.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
The Romans have learned from their fathers to redeem their country with iron, and not with gold.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
Woe to the vanquished!
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
The shame [...] consists not in giving more than one has promised, but in being forced to give; and it is a humiliating necessity which circumstances make law for us.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
Human weakness [...] allows itself to be carried away by superstition and pride, or falls into negligence and contempt for sacred things.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
Fear lulls sedition to sleep.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
There was [...] a marvelous change in the will of the people: they exhorted one another and roused themselves to begin the work.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
What caused no less confusion in the military operations was the multitude of chiefs.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
Thus was Rome taken in a surprising manner, and saved in a manner more surprising still.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
He prayed to the gods to bring these fatal divisions to a happy end, vowing, if the troubles subsided, to build a temple to Concord.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
By unjustly using the authority he had acquired [...], he lost his reputation as much as he increased the power of those he favored. Thus, without realizing it, he found his ruin in his very strength and greatness.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
It was neither their discord nor their enmity, but their friendship and union, that was for [the republic] the first and most fatal misfortune.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
This power, divided between two rivals, maintained the balance [...]; but as soon as it was united and weighed entirely on a single point, it had no counterweight, and ended up shaking the republic and overthrowing it completely.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
So little is Fortune against nature! It cannot satisfy its desires; for that great authority, that vast expanse of country, could not satisfy the ambition of two men.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
It is necessary that I depart; it is not necessary that I live.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
He gave way to audacious confidence, and grew disdainful of [his adversary's] power, to the point of believing he needed neither arms nor effort against him.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
In whatever part of Italy I stamp my foot, he said, legions will spring forth.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
The die is cast!
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
Today the victory was in the hands of the enemies, if they had had a leader who knew how to win.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
Any man who enters a tyrant's house becomes his slave, though he came there a free man.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
Since we are born mortal, we must bear misfortune and try fortune again: let us not despair of returning from my present state to my past greatness.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
The best course is therefore to receive him and have him killed [...]. A dead man does not bite.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
In the extremity to which [the republic] is reduced, it has chosen him as its physician [...] and he, instead of responding to this trust, crowns himself with flowers [...] and celebrates a wedding, when he should regard this consulate as a public calamity.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
I prefer a magistrate, whoever he may be, to anarchy; and I know no one more fit than Pompey to command in such great turmoil.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
[He was] a man accustomed for thirty-four years to subjugating everything, and who was then, in his old age, having his first experience of rout and flight.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
A statesman, to give his political conduct all its greatness [...], must unite in his person, with fortune and power, prudence and justice.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
One must guard against pride, the usual companion of solitude.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
There is no finer sight than a city governed by a wise prince; while the most odious of all sights is to see it governed by a tyrant.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
The life of the just man was the only happy one, while that of the unjust man was the most miserable of all.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
Being a just man, he will be as happy a slave as he is free.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
This voluptuous life ended up softening the tyranny [...] not through goodness, but through the laziness of the one who governed.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
They made him the object of their slander, calling his gravity arrogance, and his frankness stubbornness.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
The chains of diamond are not [...] fear and force [...] but rather the affection, zeal, and gratitude that the justice and virtue of leaders inspire in the hearts of their subjects.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
Can a prince obtain the esteem of the people when [...] he has, by his reason and his discourse, no superiority over the least of his subjects?
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
Equality is the basis of liberty, as poverty is the source of servitude.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
The proof of the victory one has won over one's passions is not to be gentle and moderate towards one's friends [...], but to show clemency and humanity towards those who have done us injustices.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
Human wickedness, though difficult to cure, is neither so savage nor so brutal that it cannot eventually yield [...] to oft-repeated kindnesses.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
Military exploits [...] are at least in part claimed by Fortune.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
If Heraclides is a wicked, treacherous, and envious man, is that a reason for Dion to tarnish his virtue by giving way to anger?
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
He was the object of general admiration, [...] as simple in his clothes, his equipages, and his table, as if he had lived in the Academy with Plato.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
[...] misfortune [...] often makes even the most moderate characters bold and unjust.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
[...] fearing [...] the instability of fortune, which often raises [someone] from the most deplorable situation to the height of prosperity in an instant.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
I am dealing with a dangerous beast here.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
It is not [a man's] good fortune that saves him; it is my own that [...] gives me [...] an occasion to show my gentleness and humanity.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
This eagerness soon turned the compassion his misfortunes had first inspired into jealousy [...].
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
[...] even after such a dreadful setback, he had regarded surrendering himself as the most shameful step.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
At first he bore his misfortune with constancy; soon he grew accustomed to it and suffered it without difficulty.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
He gave himself over to debauchery [...] whether to escape the sad reflections that assailed him when he was sober [...].
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
He recognized that this way of life was the one he had always desired [...], but from which the foolish love of vain glory had constantly kept him away.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
[...] believing he would find on fleets and in camps the happiness he now found, against his expectations, in idleness, in the abandonment of all affairs.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
What other fruit do these unfortunate men [...] draw from all their wars [...] if not to sacrifice virtue [...] to luxury and pleasure, and to vainly pursue a happiness they never truly know how to enjoy?
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
He greatly repented the suspicions he had conceived [...].
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
He was not without suspicions and fears regarding him.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
But the object that excited the most compassion and regret [...] was [the son], overwhelmed with grief and bursting into tears.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
For it is the mark of a man in love with himself, and not with the beautiful and the honest, to believe himself more perfect than others.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
[...] a violent hatred for tyrants, which age only increased and further inflamed.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
It is very true that nothing is more timid than a tyrant [...].
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
Fortune took care that this enterprise should not be sullied by the blood of any citizen.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
[The statesman] is more concerned with the public good than with his own, an implacable enemy of tyrants, having no other measure for his private friendships and hatreds than the general utility.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
[He] appeared less a zealous friend than a mild and easy enemy; for he often varied in both these feelings, and always for reasons of political interest.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
This inequality in distinguished characters comes from a lack of philosophy: nature alone, without the help of science, produces virtue in them, like wild fruits that grow by themselves without cultivation.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
So much does joy, when not moderated by reason, make a man beside himself, and stirs his soul more than sadness and fear!
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
Who would not admire such magnanimity? Who [...] would not be interested in the actions of a man who buys such peril so dearly [...] to be led at night into the midst of enemies, where he will fight for his own life, with no other pledge than the hope of a noble deed?
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
There is no surer guard for a leader than the firm and sincere affection of those under him; for when the people [...] have become accustomed not to fear the one who commands them, but to fear for him, then all ears, all eyes are open to watch over his safety.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
Just as the parts of the human body draw their nourishment and life from their union [...] so too whatever breaks the society of cities leads to their dissolution.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
It would have been better to take as leader [...] the last of one's own, than the first of foreigners: this at least should be the thought of those who value nobility [...].
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
[...] seeing that necessity was unavoidable, and that the situation, which compels obedience even from those who believe themselves masters, required this step, he took the risk.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
His natural perversity broke through the disguise with which he had tried to hide it [...], gradually revealing and finally laying bare the corruption of his morals.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
[...] philosophers themselves, in the schools, investigating whether palpitations of the heart and changes of countenance in perilous circumstances are marks of timidity, or whether they are merely the consequences of a constitutional defect or a natural coldness [...].
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
This ruse [...], it is said, was the first bait that captivated [a powerful man]: amazed by this inventive spirit, then subjugated by her gentleness, by the graces of her conversation.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
To mark the incredible speed of a victory, he wrote [...] only these three words: 'I came, I saw, I conquered.'
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
[The people] were indignant at these disorders; and [the leader] neither ignored nor approved of them; but he was forced, to achieve his political ends, to use such agents.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
[...] the enemies trusted in an ancient oracle, which stated that the race of the Scipios would always be victorious in Africa.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
Thus, in a small part of a single day, he seized three camps, and killed fifty thousand enemies, having lost only fifty of his own.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
O [my rival], I envy your death, since you envied me the glory of giving you life!
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
[A leader], by restoring the statues of [his rival], had strengthened his own.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
It is better to die once than to fear death at every hour.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
This passion was a kind of jealousy against himself [...] an obstinate perseverance in wanting to surpass his previous exploits with those he intended to accomplish.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
Convinced that the only way to recover from all the evils caused by the civil wars was the authority of one man, they named him perpetual dictator.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
I do not greatly fear these fat, sleek-headed men, but rather these pale and lean men.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
The question was proposed in conversation: 'What is the best kind of death?' Caesar, answering before anyone else, cried out: 'The unexpected one.'
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
Wherever he turned, he met with blows and saw swords leveled at his face and eyes, and was driven, like a wild beast, struggling amidst the hands of his assailants.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
This domination [...] which he had obtained with so much difficulty, brought him no other fruit than an empty title, and a glory that exposed him to the hatred of his fellow citizens.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
The mighty genius which had attended him during his life, followed him after his death as a relentless avenger, pursuing his murderers over land and sea [...].
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
It is shameful to be a people-pleaser to acquire power; but an authority based on terror, violence, and oppression is both a shame and an injustice.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
He who governs in a gentle and popular manner is less blameworthy than those who treat the people with contemptuous pride, so as not to seem to flatter them.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
[He] only wanted to satisfy his resentment; a passion that [...] always repays indulgence poorly.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
Lacking [charisma], [a man's] great deeds and virtues became unbearable even to those who reaped their benefits: they could not stand his pride or his stubbornness.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
One could not stand his pride or his stubbornness, that companion of solitude.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
Often even his faults were graciously received, and passed for witticisms.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
The one could not be hated by his fellow citizens, to whom he had done so much harm; and the other, rightly admired for his virtue, never knew how to make himself loved by his own people.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
The cause of [...] these inconsistencies was in the harshness of character, in the excess of pride and stubbornness, a vice always odious to the crowd.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
[Pride], joined with ambition, becomes completely fierce and intractable.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
One scorns [...] to court the people, as if one did not desire honors; and, when one has failed to obtain them, one feels a keen resentment.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
He who flatters the people the least should also seek the least revenge on them.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
Such keen resentment for the refusal of a position [...] stems from a violent desire to obtain it.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
It was pride that prevented [him] from courting those who [...] could bestow honors; yet he could not, without painful spite, see his ambitious claims disappointed.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
In all else, his virtue shines brightly; and his temperance, his contempt for riches, make him comparable to all the virtuous and disinterested citizens Greece ever had.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
[He was] certainly the most shameless of vicious men, and the most perfect scorner of decency and honesty.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
[...] the mercenary soldier should be greedy for money and pleasure, so that, to obtain the means to satisfy his passions, he would expose himself with greater audacity to all dangers.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
[...] the best general became useless if his troops were not submissive and obedient; thinking that the virtue of obedience, as much as that of command, requires [...] a generous nature [...].
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
Nothing is as terrible in an empire as an army that no longer knows restraint, and that indulges with license in all its disorderly movements.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
The Roman Empire [...] turned its arms against itself, less because of the ambition of its leaders [...] than because of the avarice and licentiousness of the soldiers, who drove them out one after another, as one nail drives out another.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
The palace of the Caesars received, in a shorter space of time, four emperors, the soldiers bringing one in while chasing another out, just as on a stage.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
Seeking an emperor who could give them such a sum, they consumed themselves in revolts and betrayals, without being able to obtain the much-desired reward.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
His simple and frugal life [...] caused him to be accused of avarice as soon as he came to the empire; and the glory he drew from his economy was regarded as outdated and out of season.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
To question whether we shall remain faithful [to power] is already to be unfaithful to it.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
He already repented of what he had done, and regretted the sweet and peaceful life to which he was accustomed, compared to the troubles of his present position.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
He feared that soon people would come to miss Nero.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
It was not a happy omen [...] to enter Rome in the midst of such carnage [...]: until then he had been despised as a weak old man; but then he appeared to everyone as a formidable emperor.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
He said that he was accustomed to choosing his soldiers, not to buying them: a word worthy of a great prince, but which gave birth to an implacable hatred against him in the hearts of the soldiers.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
Driven from treason to treason by some evil Genius.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
The soothsayer [...] declared to him, clearly and without evasion, that he saw signs of a great disturbance, and that a secret treason threatened his head.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
The people, seeing them led to their execution [...], clapped their hands and shouted that it was a holy procession, pleasing to the gods themselves; but that gods and men also demanded the death of the master [...] of tyranny.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
The faults of one were the result of his ambition, those of the other of his stubbornness.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
One was quick to anger, and the other difficult to appease.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
Where all other things are equal, virtue alone gives superiority.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
It is easier to do good to the weak than to risk displeasing the powerful through resistance.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
[A man] was always ready, out of spite, to undo the good he had just accomplished.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
Victorious in a great number of battles, [he] never left anything for fortune to claim over his ability.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
[...] it was during the decline of Greece that [the illustrious man] became famous: thus his successes were his own work.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
[One] commanded good troops; [the other] made the ones he commanded good.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
He vanquished the most cunning by his shrewdness, and the most valiant by his audacity.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
Nature had so well made him for command, that he knew not only how to command according to the laws, but, for the public interest, to command the laws themselves.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
[The true leader] does not wait for power to be conferred upon him: he uses his own strength when circumstances require it.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
[...] the true general is not the one who is appointed, but the one who has the most beneficial thoughts for [the people].
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
It seems that it was out of anger and stubbornness that he sacrificed his own life by going, inappropriately and too hastily, to attack [...].
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
[The victor] rendered liberty to all nations and to all cities.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
That which most influences victory was invented by one, and only employed by the other.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
[...] equal exploits accomplished with unequal resources add to the general's glory.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
In all their actions, they carried integrity and justice.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
It seems that [some] come to affairs already fully formed in virtue by the laws and customs of their country; whereas [others] form themselves.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
[...] there was not one general [...] who was not corrupted as soon as he had touched [great power].
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
A truly admirable thing is that after overthrowing such a great monarchy, [a man] did not increase his own wealth by a single drachma.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
[A man] brought neither his eyes nor his hand near those treasures of which he made such great largesses to others.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
There is no shame in receiving the prize for such great services; but to refuse is more glorious still.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
It is the height of virtue to know how to do without what one can legitimately acquire.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
[...] the best temperaments are those that can endure both heat and cold equally.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
The strongest and best-constituted soul is that which is neither made proud nor enervated by success, and which is not cast down by adversity.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
In the greatest of misfortunes [...], he showed himself no weaker than in the midst of his triumphs, nor less worthy of respect.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
[A man], after a generous act [...], could not suppress, by the effort of reason, the turmoil of his soul.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
Cast down by repentance and grief, he did not have the courage, for twenty years, to appear [...] in the public square.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
One must flee what is shameful, and blush for it.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
To fear blame at every turn is proof of a gentle and simple character, it is true, but one that has no greatness.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
Doubtless our parents [...] gave us life; but having received reason from philosophers, [...] to these philosophers we owe the possibility of living well.
1st Century A.D.
Source: Against Colotes
One imagines giving authority to one's own sensations by denying those of others. One should not plead in favor of any [...].
1st Century A.D.
Source: Against Colotes
To deny consequences because of their absurdity, and to pretend to maintain their principles, is [...] to fall into the most shameful of contradictions.
1st Century A.D.
Source: Against Colotes
[Know that] what is not cannot be born, that what exists does not perish, that the coming together of certain substances is what is called generation, and that their dissolution constitutes death.
1st Century A.D.
Source: Against Colotes
In nature, there are things that belong only to the realm of opinion, and others that are the object of pure intelligence. The former are but uncertainty and error.
1st Century A.D.
Source: Against Colotes
The reasoning that leads one to think that the senses cannot provide exact guarantees [...] does not suppress for us the evidence of each object. [...] It is enough to ask for their support [...] since we have nothing better at our disposal.
1st Century A.D.
Source: Against Colotes
The most divine [maxim] has always seemed to be 'Know thyself'; and it was precisely this maxim that constituted for [the philosopher] the starting point of his doubts and inquiries.
1st Century A.D.
Source: Against Colotes
[Self-knowledge] is the only indispensable knowledge, as it is also the most difficult to secure. In vain will one hope to acquire any other, as long as one is ignorant of what is noblest in oneself [...].
1st Century A.D.
Source: Against Colotes
One must engage in self-contemplation to know whether one is a wild beast, more [...] violent than a Typhon, or a being partaking of a divine nature [...].
1st Century A.D.
Source: Against Colotes
We will do voluntarily, under the auspices of reason, what today we only do in spite of ourselves, by the constraint of laws.
1st Century A.D.
Source: Against Colotes
Do you want to know when our life will be barbaric, savage, unsociable? It will be when the laws are suppressed, [...] but when at the same time doctrines that invite us to pleasure are maintained.
1st Century A.D.
Source: Against Colotes
There is a Justice, and its gaze sees all.
1st Century A.D.
Source: Against Colotes
You may find cities without walls, [...] without currency, [...] without theaters [...]. But you would not name one that does not recognize something sacred and divine [...].
1st Century A.D.
Source: Against Colotes
I would sooner understand a city existing without ground than I could imagine a city that could be organized or maintained after the idea of the Divinity had been completely destroyed within it.
1st Century A.D.
Source: Against Colotes
A great man fears infamy alone, and that suffering only frightens [...] men with the hearts of women.
1st Century A.D.
Source: Against Colotes
Whatever the duties with which he was entrusted, the humblest as well as the most exalted, he brought to them the same love of good, the same zeal, an unfailing devotion.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
He lived [...] happy in his own happiness and that of those around him, tranquil, paying little attention to his fame, which was immense.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
He placed his glory and his patriotism in preventing, by his presence, [his city] from diminishing further, and in allowing his fellow citizens to enjoy the esteem attached to his name.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
Always and everywhere, one feels this love of good, this perfect sincerity, which captivates the heart and makes one overlook the most glaring imperfections.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
[The writer is] without artifice or preparation, happily gifted by nature, and [...] pours out with a full hand all the treasures of his knowledge and his soul.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
A man of good faith, but not a simpleton.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
This naivety of true, intimate details, which catch the man in the act, and portray him in all his depth, by showing him with all his smallnesses.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
It is this double character of eloquence and truth that has made him so powerful over all vivid imaginations.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
He painted man; and he worthily retraced the greatest characters and the most beautiful actions of the human species.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
The writer wrote in an age of decadence; and he suffered, as much as and more than anyone, the fatal influence of his time.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
[An author] owes his popularity [...] to the eternal interest attached to the names of the great men whose images he has painted.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
We admire [...] the most indigestible lucubrations [...] without deigning to even glance at the treasures that lie, in our own lands, in dust and oblivion.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
Respect for the truth forces me to brave this ridicule.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
It is difficult not to depart from common sense, as soon as one tries [...] to translate verses [...] with the pretension of saying exactly what they say.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
My design was not to invent [an author], but to reproduce him.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
Both foreigners and banished from their homeland, they commanded [...] diverse nations and numerous, seasoned armies.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
One was followed by people who wanted a man capable of commanding; [...] the other was followed only because [his followers] were themselves incapable of command.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
One came to command by favor of his reputation [...], the other arrived there, despised because of his previous position.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
To begin his fortune, [he had] far fewer means [...], and experienced, in order to increase it, much greater obstacles.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
One saw no one declare themselves publicly against him; and it was only at the end of his life that some of his allies conspired for his downfall.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
One found in his victories the end of his perils; while the other had, in victory itself, [...] a source of dangers.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
One loved war and struggle; the other would have preferred, by taste, a gentle and peaceful life.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
Able to live in retirement with safety and honor, [he] did not cease to expose himself to danger by fighting the most powerful of men.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
The other, who sought no trouble, had to take up arms for his own safety against those who would not let him live in peace.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
One willingly made war in order to command; the other commanded in spite of himself, to repel the war being waged against him.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
The man who prefers his ambition to his safety loves war; but the true warrior wages it only to obtain his safety.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
Death surprised him without his expecting it. A proof of goodness [...]: he seemed to trust his friends.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
His life was not dishonored by his death: he suffered at the hands of his allies what his enemies had never been able to do to him.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
The other knew neither how to honorably guard himself from death, nor how to bear it courageously.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
By stooping to solicit and to beg, he reduced his very soul into dependence on the enemy who seemed master only of his body.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
...without any outside help, [they] advanced in public functions and honors through their virtue and ability.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
[Society] had become accustomed to looking at the nobility of families, at wealth [...] and treated those who aspired to public office with insulting arrogance.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
The rampart that protected his life, the instrument that made his success, was his eloquence...
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
...the public good draws its strength from the particular faculties of its citizens.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
...those who neglect their domestic affairs usually enrich themselves by unjust means.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
Poverty is not shameful in itself, but only where it is proof of laziness, intemperance, prodigality, and folly.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
...in a wise, hardworking, just, courageous man [...] poverty is but the mark of a lofty spirit and a magnanimous heart.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
It is impossible to do great things when one's thoughts are entirely on petty things.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
A great provision for governing well is not wealth, but moderation in our desires.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
When one knows how to do without the superfluous, one can devote oneself without distraction to the care of public affairs.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
The human virtue that knows how to reduce its needs the most is therefore the most perfect and the most divine.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
Simplicity that limits itself to the necessary is a great good, because it removes both the desire for and the worry about the superfluous.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
...those who are, like me, voluntarily poor, should glory in it.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
...it is as ridiculous to praise oneself as to blame oneself.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
Modesty [...] introduces gentleness into political dealings; on the contrary, pride [...] is a source of envy.
100-120 AD
Source: Parallel Lives
The happiness of others afflicts both hate and envy alike [...].
c. 72-126 AD
Source: Of Envy and Hate
Envy [...] simply attaches itself to those who appear to be prosperous.
c. 72-126 AD
Source: Of Envy and Hate
It seems [...] that envy is limitless in its aversions, just as sick eyes are hurt by everything that casts a bright light.
c. 72-126 AD
Source: Of Envy and Hate
One is naturally inclined to detest what one fears.
c. 72-126 AD
Source: Of Envy and Hate
Envy is never produced by a feeling of justice [...] and yet it is their happiness that excites envy.
c. 72-126 AD
Source: Of Envy and Hate
Hatred for the wicked is among the praised sentiments.
c. 72-126 AD
Source: Of Envy and Hate
How can he be good, he who has not even severity against the wicked!
c. 72-126 AD
Source: Of Envy and Hate
Envy is a feeling that one does not admit. [...] the only sickness of the soul that must be concealed.
c. 72-126 AD
Source: Of Envy and Hate
[...] we are more envious of those who seem to make more progress in virtue.
c. 72-126 AD
Source: Of Envy and Hate
Themistocles used to say [...] "that he had so far done nothing of note, since no one was envious of him."
c. 72-126 AD
Source: Of Envy and Hate
Just as cantharides attach themselves [...] to full-blown roses, so the envious person attacks above all the most irreproachable [...].
c. 72-126 AD
Source: Of Envy and Hate
It is true that superiority and the brilliance of success sometimes extinguish envy [...].
c. 72-126 AD
Source: Of Envy and Hate
One detests one's enemies, even when fallen; one no longer envies the unfortunate.
c. 72-126 AD
Source: Of Envy and Hate
The services an envious person receives from people favored by Fortune are for them a cause of displeasure.
c. 72-126 AD
Source: Of Envy and Hate
The happiness of others is like a house that rises higher than their own. If they could remove what obstructs their view, they would ask for nothing more.
c. 72-126 AD
Source: Of Envy and Hate