Top 300 Plutarch Quotes (2025 Update)

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

— Plutarch

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2. “Come back with your shield – or on it.”

— Plutarch

Featured in: Warrior Quotes, Victory Quotes, Sacrifice Quotes, Quotes About War

3. “I don’t need a friend who changes when I change and who nods when I nod; my shadow does that much better.”

— Plutarch

4. “What we achieve inwardly will change outer reality.”

— Plutarch

5. “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.””

— Plutarch

Featured in: Warrior Quotes, Art of War Quotes

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

— Plutarch

7. “Proper listening is the foundation of proper living.”

— Plutarch

Featured in: Quotes About Listening

8. “God is the brave man’s hope, and not the coward’s excuse.”

— Plutarch

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

— Plutarch

Featured in: Anger Quotes

10. “The great god Pan is dead.”

— Plutarch

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

— Plutarch

12. “If I were not Alexander, I would be Diogenes.”

— Plutarch

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

— Plutarch

14. “A good man will take care of his horses and dogs, not only while they are young, but also when they are old and past service.”

— Plutarch

15. “Rest is the sweet sauce of labor.”

— Plutarch

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16. “The Spartans do not ask how many are the enemy but where are they.”

— Plutarch

17. “The worship most acceptable to God comes from a thankful and cheerful heart.”

— Plutarch

18. “Barba non facit philosophum.”

— Plutarch

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

— Plutarch

20. “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

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

— Plutarch

22. “It is part of a good man to do great and noble deeds, though he risk everything.”

— Plutarch

23. “When Demosthenes was asked what were the three most important aspects of oratory, he answered, ‘Action, Action, Action.’”

— Plutarch

24. “Instead of using medicine, better fast today.”

— Plutarch

Featured in: Medicine Quotes

25. “A warrior carries his shield for the sake of the entire line.”

— Plutarch

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

— Plutarch

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

— Plutarch

28. “Wisdom is neither gold, nor silver, nor fame, nor wealth, nor health, nor strength, nor beauty.”

— Plutarch

29. “Fate leads him who follows it, and drags him who resist.”

— Plutarch

30. “I see the cure is not worth the pain.”

— Plutarch

31. “Caesar’s wife should be above suspicion.”

— Plutarch

32. “The talkative listen to no one, for they are ever speaking. And the first evil that attends those who know not to be silent is that they hear nothing.”

— Plutarch

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33. “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.”

— Plutarch

34. “Spintharus, speaking in commendation of Epaminondas, says he scarce ever met with any man who knew more and spoke less.”

— Plutarch

35. “It is a true proverb, that if you live with a lame man, you will learn to limp.”

— Plutarch

36. “Silence is an answer to a wise man.”

— Plutarch

37. “Neither blame or praise yourself.”

— Plutarch

38. “Where the lion’s skin will not reach, you must patch it out with the fox’s.”

— Plutarch

39. “Wise men are able to make a fitting use even of their enmities.”

— Plutarch

40. “But for the sake of some little mouthful of flesh we deprive a soul of the sun and light, and of that proportion of life and time it had been born into the world to enjoy.”

— Plutarch

41. “Learn to be pleased with everything, with wealth so far as it makes us beneficial to others; with poverty, for not having much to care for; and with obscurity, for being unenvied.”

— Plutarch

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

— Plutarch

43. “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.”

— Plutarch

44. “When the candles are out all women are fair.”

— Plutarch

45. “A lover’s soul lives in the body of his mistress.”

— Plutarch

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

— Plutarch

47. “The measure of a man’s life is the well spending of it, and not the length.”

— Plutarch

48. “Extraordinary rains pretty generally fall after great battles.”

— Plutarch

49. “When a man’s struggle begins within oneself, the man is worth something.”

— Plutarch

50. “Nature and wisdom never are at strife.”

— Plutarch