Top 50 Plutarch Quotes for Moral Guidance

“Character is simply habit long continued.”

— Plutarch

“The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled.”

— Plutarch

“Courage consists not in hazarding without fear, but being resolutely minded in a just cause.”

— Plutarch

“The measure of a man is the way he bears up under misfortune.”

— Plutarch

“It is part of a wise man to keep himself today for tomorrow, and not venture all his eggs in one basket.”

— Plutarch

“Moral habits, induced by public institutions, are a safe bulwark of liberty.”

— Plutarch

“I do not need a friend who changes when I change and who nods when I nod; my shadow does that much better.”

— Plutarch

“Know how to listen, and you will profit even from those who talk badly.”

— Plutarch

“When the strong box contains no more both friends and flatterers vanish.”

— Plutarch

“To find fault is easy; to do better may be difficult.”

— Plutarch

“Silence at the proper season is wisdom, and better than any speech.”

— Plutarch

“Most people, when they set out to reason, cast their facts aside, and follow after a favorite opinion.”

— Plutarch

“For the wise man, every day is a festival.”

— Plutarch

“In words are seen the state of mind and character and disposition of the speaker.”

— Plutarch

“Not by lamentations and mournful chants ought we to celebrate funerals, but by hymns, for in doing so the soul is transported with a right and holy thought concerning immortality.”

— Plutarch

“Self-restraint is the greatest of all virtues.”

— Plutarch

“The omission of good is no less reprehensible than the commission of evil.”

— Plutarch

“It is indeed a desirable thing to be well-descended, but the glory belongs to our ancestors.”

— Plutarch

“Education is not the learning of facts, but the training of the mind to think.”

— Anonymous

“We are more sensible of what is done against custom than against nature.”

— Plutarch

“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.”

— Plutarch

“The very spring and root of honesty and virtue lie in good education.”

— Plutarch

“Nothing is harder to direct than a man in prosperity; nothing more easily managed that one in adversity.”

— Plutarch

“Fate leads the willing and drags along the reluctant.”

— Plutarch

“True friendship is shown in times of trouble; prosperity is full of friends.”

— Plutarch

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

— Plutarch

“Those who aim at great deeds must also suffer greatly.”

— Plutarch

“A few vices are sufficient to darken many virtues.”

— Plutarch

“Custom is no small matter, but it is everything.”

— Plutarch

“Friends are much better tried in adversity than in prosperity.”

— Plutarch

“An imbalance between rich and poor is the oldest and most fatal ailment of all republics.”

— Plutarch

“Justice is the crowning glory of the virtues.”

— Plutarch

“Good birth is fortune, but virtue is in our own hands.”

— Plutarch

“No man ever wetted clay and then left it, as if there would be bricks by chance and fortune.”

— Plutarch

“Virtue is a habit of the mind, consistent with nature and moderation and reason.”

— Plutarch

“Being about to pitch his camp in a likely spot, and hearing there was no hay to be had for the cattle, ‘What a life,’ said he, ‘is ours, since we must live according to the convenience of asses!’”

— Plutarch

“To wrong one’s neighbor is bad; to forget the wrong is worse.”

— Plutarch

“Doing nothing with a deal of skill is a difficult thing to learn.”

— Plutarch

“He is a fool who lets slip a bird in the hand for a bird in the bush.”

— Plutarch

“Nothing contributes so much to tranquilize the mind as a steady purpose.”

— Plutarch

“The real destroyer of the liberties of the people is he who spreads among them bounties, donations and benefits.”

— Plutarch

“To live well is to live with honor and justice.”

— Plutarch

“Painting is silent poetry, and poetry is painting that speaks.”

— Plutarch

“Study, not to contradict and confute, nor to believe and take for granted, but to weigh and consider.”

— Plutarch

“Nothing really belongs to us but time, which even he has who has nothing else.”

— Plutarch

“Prosperity is no just scale; adversity is the only balance to weigh friends.”

— Plutarch

“A mind is a fire to be kindled, not a vessel to be filled.”

— Plutarch

“Moral progress is a process, not a state.”

— Plutarch

“Let us not mistake necessary evils for good.”

— Plutarch

“Perseverance is more prevailing than violence; many things which cannot be overcome when they are together, yield themselves up when taken little by little.”

— Plutarch