Plutarch Zitate

seite 6

„„Ich brauche keinen Freund, der sich ändert, wenn ich mich ändere, und der nickt, wenn ich nicke. Mein Schatten macht das viel besser.“

„[ Wein ] ist unter den Getränken das nützlichste, unter den Arzneien das schmackhafteste und unter den Nahrungsmitteln das angenehmste.“

„Es ist schlimm, erst dann zu merken, dass man keine Freunde hat, wenn man Freunde nötig hat.“

„Der Wein ist unter den Getränken das nützlichste, unter den Arzneien das schmackhafteste, unter den Nahrungsmitteln das angenehmste.“

„Erholung ist die Würze der Arbeit.“

„Der Anfang des rechten Lebens ist, wie wir glauben, das rechte Hören.“

„Der Tod ist das Ende aller Dinge des menschlichen Lebens, nur des Aberglaubens nicht.“

„Armut ist keine Schande an sich, sondern wo sie ein Zeichen von Leichtfertigkeit, Mangel an Selbstbeherrschung, Gedankenlosigkeit oder Verschwendung ist.“

„Der Geist ist nicht wie ein Gefäß, das gefüllt werden soll, sondern wie Holz, das lediglich entzündet werden will.“

„Der Menge gefallen heißt den Weisen missfallen.“

„Die Kunst besteht darin, in allem den Mittelweg einzuhalten.“

„Dumm und feige ist, wer aus Furcht vor Verlust den Besitz des Nötigen ablehnt.“

„Ein lästiger und ungezogener Tischgenosse zerstört alle Lust.“

„Einsicht verschafft das Gute, erhält es, mehrt es und macht rechten Gebrauch davon.“

„Er schärfte den Seinen ein, kühn mit Verleumdungen zu packen und zu beißen, so dass, auch wenn der Gebissene die Wunde behandelt, die Narbe bleibt.“

„Lieber der Erste hier als der Zweite in Rom!“

„Man soll ebensowenig nach den Augen heiraten wie nach den Fingern.“

„Wenn ich dir etwas gebe, bettelst du umso mehr. Der Erste, der seine Hand auftut, ist schuld an deiner Gemeinheit, weil er dich zum Faulenzer machte.“

„Nachlässigkeit richtet selbst vorzügliche Anlage der Natur zugrunde.“

„Es ist schon wünschenswert, von guter Abstammung zu sein, aber der Ruhm dafür gebührt den Vorfahren.“

“For water continually dropping will wear hard rocks hollow.”

“Alexander said, "I assure you I had rather excel others in the knowledge of what is excellent, than in the extent of my power and dominion."”

“Athenodorus says hydrophobia, or water-dread, was first discovered in the time of Asclepiades.”

“And this," said Cæsar, "you know, young man, is more disagreeable for me to say than to do.”

“Thrasyllus the Cynic begged a drachm of Antigonus. "That," said he, "is too little for a king to give." "Why, then," said the other, "give me a talent." "And that," said he, "is too much for a Cynic (or, for a dog) to receive."”

“Being nimble and light-footed, his father encouraged him to run in the Olympic race. "Yes," said he, "if there were any kings there to run with me."”

“After he routed Pharnaces Ponticus at the first assault, he wrote thus to his friends: "I came, I saw, I conquered."”

“Socrates said he was not an Athenian or a Greek, but a citizen of the world.”

“Themistocles said that a man's discourse was like to a rich Persian carpet, the beautiful figures and patterns of which can be shown only by spreading and extending it out; when it is contracted and folded up, they are obscured and lost.”

“When one asked him what boys should learn, "That," said he, "which they shall use when men."”

“Agesilaus was very fond of his children; and it is reported that once toying with them he got astride upon a reed as upon a horse, and rode about the room; and being seen by one of his friends, he desired him not to speak of it till he had children of his own.”

“Both Empedocles and Heraclitus held it for a truth that man could not be altogether cleared from injustice in dealing with beasts as he now does.”

“Are you not ashamed to mix tame fruits with blood and slaughter? You are indeed wont to call serpents, leopards, and lions savage creatures; but yet yourselves are defiled with blood, and come nothing behind them in cruelty. What they kill is their ordinary nourishment, but what you kill is your better fare.”

“The saying of old Antigonus, who when he was to fight at Andros, and one told him, "The enemy's ships are more than ours," replied, "For how many then wilt thou reckon me?"”

“Cato the elder wondered how that city was preserved wherein a fish was sold for more than an ox.”

“Alexander wept when he heard from Anaxarchus that there was an infinite number of worlds; and his friends asking him if any accident had befallen him, he returns this answer: "Do you not think it a matter worthy of lamentation that when there is such a vast multitude of them, we have not yet conquered one?"”

“It is not reasonable that he who does not shoot should hit the mark, nor that he who does not stand fast at his post should win the day, or that the helpless man should succeed or the coward prosper.”

“Extraordinary rains pretty generally fall after great battles.”

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

“He preferred an honest man that wooed his daughter, before a rich man. "I would rather," said Themistocles, "have a man that wants money than money that wants a man."”

“I will show," said Agesilaus, "that it is not the places that grace men, but men the places.”

“A prating barber asked Archelaus how he would be trimmed. He answered, "In silence."”

“Pittacus said, "Every one of you hath his particular plague, and my wife is mine; and he is very happy who hath this only."”

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

“What is bigger than an elephant? But this also is become man's plaything, and a spectacle at public solemnities; and it learns to skip, dance, and kneel.”

“Demosthenes overcame and rendered more distinct his inarticulate and stammering pronunciation by speaking with pebbles in his mouth.”

“Archimedes had stated, that given the force, any given weight might be moved; and even boasted that if there were another earth, by going into it he could remove this.”

“As those persons who despair of ever being rich make little account of small expenses, thinking that little added to a little will never make any great sum.”

“It is circumstance and proper measure that give an action its character, and make it either good or bad.”