Plutarch 46-120 A.D.
Source: Plutarch. Moralia. Loeb Classical Library. 14 vols.
Courtesy of translator Giles Laurén, author of The Stoic's Bible.
Plutarch Moralia Quotes, Page: I | II | III | IV
Those who hold that Apollo and the sun are the same, place their concept of the god in that which they honour most. E is the second vowel, the Sun is the second planet and Apollo is identified with the sun. [EI=E, the vowel].
PL MOR 5. P247.
It appears that in antithesis to ‘Thou art’ stands the admonishment KNOW THYSELF, and it seems to be in accord for the one is an utterance addressed in awe and reverence to the god as existent through all eternity, while the other reminds mortal man of his nature and weaknesses. [E = THOU ART].
PL MOR 5. P253.
If learning begets virtue, the prevention of learning destroys it.
PL MOR 6. P7.
Diogenes on seeing a child eating sweet meats gave the boy’s tutor a cuff, rightly judging the fault to be the teacher’s and not his who had been taught.
PL MOR 6. P7.
The Spartan, when asked what he taught, replied: I make honourable things pleasant to children.
PL MOR 6. P9.
The universe is neither simple nor subject to simple emotions: it is one part intelligent and rational and another part passionate and irrational.
PL MOR 6. P27.
On hearing Amoebeus play the lyre: Come, let us observe the harmony and music that gut and sinew and wood and bone send forth when they partake of reason, proportion and order. Zeno.
PL MOR 6. P33.
Reason does not seek to eradicate passion, for that would be neither expedient nor possible, but to plant some limitation, order and ethical virtues.
PL MOR 6. P35.
Acquired character is a steady force over the irrational; its habits are vice if passion has been badly trained and virtue if well moderated by reason.
PL MOR 6. P35.
In this world there are two sorts of things: those existing absolutely such as earth, heavens, sea, and those existing by their relation to us such as good and evil, things to desire and things to avoid. When reason concerns itself with the former it is called scientific and contemplative and when with the latter it is called deliberate and practical. One aims at wisdom the other prudence.
PL MOR 6. P37.
An act we do can succeed in only one way whereas it may fail in many.
PL MOR 6. P39.
By limiting the passions reason implants moral virtues in the irrational and bounds both deficiency and excess.
PL MOR 6. P39.
The wise man is not continent though he is temperate, nor is the fool incontinent though he is intemperate. The wise man takes pleasure in what is honourable while the fool is not vexed by what is shameful. Therefore, incontinence is the mark of a sophistic soul that cannot stand firm by its own just decisions.
PL MOR 6. P51.
In judging suits concerning business affairs passions cause the greatest waste of time. So also when the counsellors of kings speak to gain favour and not to advocate better policy.
PL MOR 6. P59.
Aristotle, Democritus and Chrysippus have recanted without dismay or pain and even with pleasure some of the dogmas they previously held. This is because passion does not oppose the contemplative and scientific part of the soul and the irrational part remains quiet. Reason, when the truth appears, dismisses the false.
PL MOR 6. P59.
Most of people’s deliberations, judgements and decisions which are converted into action are affected by emotion and resist the path of reason.
PL MOR 6. P61.
Reason increases in vigour as the passionate element fades.
PL MOR 6. P77. In this world some things are governed by an acquired disposition, others by a
natural one, some by an irrational soul and others by a rational one.
PL MOR 6. P77.
Passions in the service of reason intensify the virtues; moderate anger strengthens courage, hatred of injustice serves justice and indignation opposes greed.
PL MOR 6. P81.
Moral virtue comes to the soul when the emotions and actions are equitable, moderate and engendered by reason.
PL MOR 6. P83.
In his pleasures, let man rid himself of excessive desire; in punishing, let him rid himself of excessive revulsion.
PL MOR 6. P83.
Since it is not possible for a man to contemplate himself by getting apart from himself, he is a poor judge of himself. The next best thing is for him to inspect his friends and offer himself to their judgement.
PL MOR 6. P93.
He who wishes to come through life safely must continue throughout his life to be under advisement. Musonius.
PL MOR 6. P97.
When anger persists and it’s outbursts are frequent, an evil state is created in the soul which is called irascibility and this results in sudden outbursts of rage, moroseness and peevishness when the temper becomes ulcerated, easily offended and liable to find fault.
PL MOR 6. P101.
When joy comes on the scene bad temper is quickly dissipated and from this we see that it can be cured by those who wish to cure it.
PL MOR 6. P101.
He who gives no fuel to fire puts it out, likewise he who takes precautions against anger destroys it.
PL MOR 6. P103.
Whenever Socrates perceived himself being moved to too great harshness against any of his friends he would lower his voice, smile, gentle his look and thus counteract his passion.
PL MOR 6. P105.
Dethrone temper as you would a tyrant, not by obeying but by avoiding.
PL MOR 6. P107.
Anchor yourself in a safe harbour as though you felt an attack of epilepsy coming on so that you may not fall upon others, most likely your friends.
PL MOR 6. P107.
Temper can do many terrible and ridiculous things and therefore is the most despised of the passions.
PL MOR 6. P109.
Observing temper in others, transported in colour, countenance, gait and voice, I formed such a displeasing picture that I ever since sought to avoid appearing in so deranged and terrible a state before my friends or family.
PL MOR 6. P109.
Xerxes not only branded and lashed the sea, but also sent a letter to Mount Athos: Noble Athos, whose summit reaches heaven, do not put in the way of my deeds great stones difficult to work. Else I shall hew you down and cast you into the sea.
PL MOR 6. P109.
The intemperate, bitter and vulgar words which temper casts forth defile the speaker most, leading others to believe that he has always had this trait within him and that his inner nature is laid bare in anger.
PL MOR 6. P113.
Unmixed wine produces nothing so intemperate and odious as anger does. Words thrown with wine go well with laughter whereas those thrown with anger are mixed with gall.
PL MOR 6. P115.
The nature of ill temper is not well bred, manly, or possessing any quality of pride or greatness, yet many think its turbulence to be activity. The whole demeanour of angry persons declares their childish littleness and impotence.
PL MOR 6. pp.115,117.
The weak soul’s inclination to inflict hurt produces a temper as great as its infirmity.
PL MOR 6. P117.
Magas sent dice and a ball to Philemon, as to a senseless child, and sent him on his way.
PL MOR 6. P123.
If it is not the part of a king to take a jest, neither is it to make one. Ptolemy.
PL MOR 6. P123.
The Spartans use the playing of pipes to remove the spirit of anger from their fighting men and they sacrifice to the Muses before battle so that reason may remain constant within them; once they have routed the enemy they do not pursue, but sound the recall to their high spirits.
PL MOR 6. P127.
The words that nurses use with children, “Stop crying and you shall have it!” may be used with benefit for anger.
PL MOR 6. P129.
There is no passion that we can better learn to control by practicing on servants than temper.
PL MOR 6. P131.
It is better to make slaves worse by forbearance than by harshness which perverts one in the correction of others.
PL MOR 6. P131.
There is a respectful fear that corrects behaviour, whereas continual beating does not produce repentance for wrongdoing, but rather stimulates the far sighted cunning to do wrong without detection.
PL MOR 6. P133.
I try to get rid of my anger by listening to those who would speak in their defence. With a passage of time the judgement often discovers a suitable punishment. The man punished can little dispute a reasonable judgement that found him guilty and the master is spared the shame of being less just than his slave.
PL MOR 6. P133.
If a man is guilty today he will still be guilty tomorrow and no harm will be done if he is punished late, but if he is punished in haste he will always be thought to have suffered without offending.
PL MOR 6. P135.
Like the shapes of persons seen through a fog, things seen through a mist of rage appear greater than they are.
PL MOR 6. P135.
Without sorrow or anger one should mete out punishment in reason’s own good time and leave anger no excuse.
PL MOR 6. P137.
When I explored the origins of anger, I observed that different persons became angry for different causes, yet in most cases the angry believe that they are being despised or neglected. Hieronymus.
PL MOR 6. P137.
The angry man should not consider himself despised, but rather despise the man who gave offence as acting from weakness, rashness, carelessness, illiberality, dotage or childishness.
PL MOR 6. P139.
When we think ourselves despised, we not only treat our wife, slaves and friends harshly, but also fall out with innkeepers, sailors, drunken muleteers, and even rage at dogs that bark at us and asses that jostle us. We are like the man who wished to beat the ass driver, but when the driver cried out “I am an Athenian,” he fell to beating the ass crying, 'You at least are not an Athenian!'
PL MOR 6. P139.
Many shocks of anger become like a running sore. We must therefore condition the body to contentment by plain living and self-sufficiency, for those who need but little are not disappointed in much.
PL MOR 6. P141.
Anyone prone to anger should avoid rare and curious objects whose loss will cause anger.
PL MOR 6. P145.
Nero had a huge and costly octagonal tent made. Seneca remarked: You have proved yourself a poor man, for if ever you lose this tent you will not have the means to procure another like it. Seneca.
PL MOR 6. P145.
We should allow no place to anger even in jest, for it brings enmity in where friendliness was; in learned discussions it turns love of learning to strife; when rendering judgement it adds insolence to authority; in teaching it engenders discouragement; in prosperity it increases envy; and in adversity it drives away compassion.
PL MOR 6. P147.
When his brother said to him after a quarrel: Damned if I don’t get even with you! Eucleides answered: As for me, may I be damned if I don’t convince you! Thus by turning him from his purpose he won him over.
PL MOR 6. P147. & p. 309.
When a man who was fond of precious seal rings reviled Polemon, he made no answer, but fixed his gaze on one of the seal rings and eyed it closely. The man, hugely pleased said to him: Do not look in this light, Polemon, but under the sun’s rays.
PL MOR 6. P149.
Anger is not righteous indignation. We cannot so easily rid ourselves of the diseases of the soul by calling one foresight, another liberality, another piety.
PL MOR 6. P149.
When anger had arisen between Aristippus and Aeschines someone said: Where now, Aristippus, is the friendship of your two? It is asleep, but I shall awaken it, and turning to Aeschines inquired: Do I appear to you so utterly unfortunate and incurable as not to receive correction from you? Aeschines replied: No wonder if you, who are naturally superior to me in all things should in this matter also have discerned before I did the right thing to do. Aristippus & Aeschines.
PL MOR 6. P149.
The object of anger’s striving is not to prevent suffering, but to cause suffering to its object.
PL MOR 6. P151.
The tokens of savage and irascible men you will see branded on the faces of their servants.
PL MOR 6. P151.
As to the faults that exasperate us we should remark: I knew that I had not bought a philosopher for a slave. I knew my friend was capable of error. I knew my wife was a woman.
PL MOR 6. P155.
Look into yourself and on considering how much indulgence you need, you will not be so angry with others.
PL MOR 6. P155.
Tranquillity and discontent should not be determined by the number of our occupations, but by their excellence or baseness.
PL MOR 6. P175.
Exchanging one’s mode of life does not relieve the soul of those things which cause grief and distress: inexperience in affairs, unreasonableness, want of ability or knowledge.
PL MOR 6, p.177.
Just as the shoe is formed to the foot and not the contrary, so does a man’s disposition form him to it. It is not habit that makes the best life sweet, but wisdom that makes life both best and sweetest. Therefore let us clean the fountain of tranquility that is in us so that external things may agree with us.
PL MOR 6. P179.
Crates, though he had but a wallet and a threadbare cloak, passed through life jesting and laughing as though at a festival.
PL MOR 6. P179.
Plato compared life to a game of dice in which we must try to make good use of whatever turns up. Republic, 604.
PL MOR 6. P181.
Theodorus, the Atheist, used to say that he offered his discourses with his right hand, while his audience received them with their left; so uninstructed persons when Fortune presents herself on their right offer their left. Men of sense, like bees that extract honey from thyme, make the best use of circumstance.
PL MOR 6. P181.
Many people are pained and exasperated by the faults of friends, relatives and even their enemies. They become angry and bitter because of these men and cause themselves to suffer; this is irrational.
PL MOR 6. P187.
Do not consider it your business to correct the faults of others; it would not be easy.
PL MOR 6. P189.
Show yourself gentle and self controlled and you will enjoy greater pleasure in your state of mind than with distress at the unpleasantness and villainy of others, who, like barking dogs are only fulfilling their nature.
PL MOR 6. P189.
How can it be anything but irrational to allow ourselves to become vexed and troubled because not everyone who has dealings with us or approaches us is honourable and cultivated? We must take care that our standard not be selfish interest in ourselves, but a general opposition to wickedness.
PL MOR 6. P189.
The man accustomed to adapt himself to public affairs easily and with self control becomes the most gracious and gentle in dealings with his fellows.
PL MOR 6. P191.
While we turn our eyes from sights of horror to see flowers and grass, yet we turn the mind toward painful things and force it to dwell on disagreeable matters.
PL MOR 6. P191.
Most persons overlook the excellent and palatable conditions of their lot and focus on what is unpleasant and disagreeable.
PL MOR 6. P193.
It is the act of a madman to be distressed at what is lost and not rejoice in what is saved, like children who have lost a toy. If we are troubled by Fortune in one matter, we make everything else unprofitable by overstating it.
PL MOR 6. P195.
We should never overlook the common things, but take account of them and be grateful that we are alive and well. Imagine them gone and remember how important health is to the sick, peace to those at war, reputation and friends to one unknown in a foreign city, and what it is to be without these things.
PL MOR 6. P195.
Often things become valuable when they are lost that seemed worthless when securely held.
PL MOR 6. P197.
Most people, as Arcesilaüs said, examine poems and paintings and statues by others with the eyes of both the mind and the body, poring over them minutely in every detail, whereas they neglect their own lives, which have many imperfections for contemplation. They look to externals and admire the repute and fortunes of others, as adulterers do other men’s wives, yet despise themselves and their own possessions.
PL MOR 6. P197.
Observing persons of inferior fortune, instead of those of superior fortune, is highly conducive to tranquility of mind.
PL MOR 6. P197.
Envious men are always conscious of what they lack are never grateful for what befits their station.
PL MOR 6. P199.
At Olympia you cannot win victory by selecting competitors, but in this life circumstances permit you to take pride in your superiority to many and be the object of envy to many. Whenever you are lost in admiration of a man borne in his litter as being superior to yourself, lower your eyes and gaze upon the litter bearers.
PL MOR 6. P199.
When we hear another disparage our affairs, we may reply that our affairs are splendid, our life is enviable and we do not beg, carry burdens or live by flattery.
PL MOR 6. P201.
Do not look only at the splendour and notoriety of those you envy, draw aside the gauzy veil of their repute and appearance and you will see many disagreeable and vexatious things.
PL MOR 6. P203.
Many evils attend wealth and repute and kingship, evils unknown to the vulgar, for ostentation hinders vision.
PL MOR 6. P203.
Reflection should reduce the faults we find with fate, for such fault finding comes from admiration of our neighbour’s lot and both debases and destroys our own.
PL MOR 6. P205.
Often in our expectations we aim at things too great, and when we fail, we blame destiny instead of our folly.
PL MOR 6. P205.
Self love is chiefly to blame for making men eager to be first and victorious in everything. Not only do men demand to be rich and learned and strong and good company and friends of kings, but unless they have dogs and horses and quails that can win prizes, they are disconsolate.
PL MOR 6. P205.
Dionysius was not content with being the greatest tyrant of his age, but because he could not sing better than Philoxenus or argue better than Plato, enraged and bitter he cast Philoxenus into the stone quarries and sold Plato into slavery at Aegina.
PL MOR 6. P207.
Even among the gods, different gods hold different powers.
PL MOR 6. P209.
There are some pursuits which cannot by their very nature exist together and are opposed to one other: intellectual pursuits and politics for one. Wine and meat make the body strong and the mind weak; greed increases wealth and bars progress in philosophy.
PL MOR 6. P209.
Runners are not discouraged because they do not carry off the wrestler’s crown; they exult in their own.
PL MOR 6. P211.
Strato, hearing that Menedemus had many more pupils: Why be surprised if there are more who want to bathe than to be anointed for the contest?
PL MOR 6. P213.
We should choose a calling appropriate to ourselves, cultivate it diligently and let the rest alone.
PL MOR 6. P215.
Not only are men jealous of rival craftsmen, but the wealthy envy the learned, the famous the rich, advocates the sophists, and in so doing they afford themselves no small vexation.
PL MOR 6. P215.
Every man has within himself storerooms of tranquility and discontent. The jars containing blessings and evils are not stored on the threshold of Zeus, they are in the soul. The foolish overlook good things for seeking better while the wise remember past benefits and keep them alive.
PL MOR 6. P215.
The harmony of the universe, like a lyre, alternates, [Heracleitus] and in mortal affairs there is nothing pure and unmixed.
PL MOR 6. P219.
A man of sense prays for better things and expects worse; by avoiding excess he deals with both conditions. Wealth, reputation, power and office delight most those who least fear their opposites.
PL MOR 6. P221.
In matters of great importance, it is the unexpected that causes most grief and dejection. Carneades.
PL MOR 6. P223.
Misfortunes that touch neither body or soul, like the low birth of your father, the adultery of your wife, the deprivation of a crown or front row seats, do not prevent a man from keeping both in excellent condition.
PL MOR 6. P225.
Man’s corporeal nature alone is vulnerable to Fortune; in his most vital parts he stands secure.
PL MOR 6. P225.
No harm’s been done you if you none admit. Menander.
PL MOR 6, p.225. He who understands the nature of the soul and the change it undergoes at
death has gained no small provision for secure tranquility in life.
PL MOR 6. P233.
I have anticipated Fortune and eliminated every entry whereby it might get at me.
PL MOR 6. P233.
Reason does away with most doubts, but regret is caused by reason itself.
PL MOR 6. P235.
No costly house, abundance of gold, pride of race, pomp of office, or grace of language impart so much serenity to life as a soul free from past evils and regret.
PL MOR 6. P237.
Anaxagoras assigned man’s reason to his having hands.
PL MOR 6. P249.
He that hates his brother cannot refrain from blaming his parents who bore such a brother.
PL MOR 6. P261.
How can a man who has grown old in law suits and quarrels with his brothers exhort his children to concord?
PL MOR 6. P263.
Brothers would be prudent to put up with the evils they are most familiar with rather than make trial of unfamiliar ones.
PL MOR 6. P269. 380
It is better not to love those not of our blood before judging them, but to judge them first and love them later. Theophrastus.
PL MOR 6. P269.
When a brother sees his father angry with his brother he acts nobly to take a share of the blame and bear it along with his brother and by such assistance make the burden lighter and helps restore his brother to his father’s grace. He that acts as mediator succeeds in lessening the anger against his brother and increases his father’s goodwill toward himself. Pleasant justifications offered to parents on behalf of a brother who is being undeservedly criticised or punished are honourable.
PL MOR 6. pp.273,275.
Some, when they have got the better of a brother by the value of a slave, lose the greatest and most valuable part of an inheritance, a brother’s friendship and confidence. Some deal with their father’s goods with no more decency than they would the spoils of an enemy.
PL MOR 6. P279.
A man who gives advice to his brother in the matter of a family estate does well to follow Plato’s precept and abolish the notion of ‘mine’ and embrace equality and fairness.
PL MOR 6. P281.
Polydeuces refused to become a god by himself and chose to become a demigod with his brother and to share his mortal portion by yielding to Castor part of his own immortality.
PL MOR 6. P283.
Plato made his brothers famous by introducing them into his writings.
PL MOR 6. P285.
It is highly expedient for brothers to seek honours and power in different fields.
PL MOR 6. P291.
Your brother carries all before him and is admired and courted, but you are not visited by anybody and enjoy no distinction. Think not so! You have a brother who is highly esteemed and most of his influence is yours to share.
PL MOR 6. P295.
The men of old gave the name ‘Cadmean victory’ to the brothers of Thebes, meaning the most shameful and the worst of victories. [Eteocles & Polyneices] .
PL MOR 6. P301.
We should pattern ourselves on the Pythagoreans, who though not related by birth, yet shared a common discipline and never let the sun go down without resolving anger and recriminations in reconciliation.
PL MOR 6. P303.
Plato reclaimed his nephew Speusippus from great self indulgence by neither saying nor doing to him anything that would cause him pain, but when the young man was avoiding his parents who were always showing him to be in the wrong and upbraiding him, Plato showed himself friendly and so brought Speusippus to respect and admire him and philosophy.
PL MOR 6. P321.
What man will love his fellow man for pay? Anon.
PL MOR 6. P341. Ofttimes, for those who had many friends and much honour, the birth of one
child makes them friendless and powerless.
PL MOR 6. P355.
When poor men do not rear their children it is because they fear that if they are educated less well than is befitting they will become servile and boorish and destitute of all the virtues; since they consider poverty the worst of evils they cannot endure to let their children share it with them, as though it were a kind of disease.
PL MOR 6. P357.
Vice makes men miserable. It has absolute power and has no need of the instruments of ministers.
PL MOR 6. P365.
You cannot order anger to be quiet, grief to be silent, the fearful man to stand his ground, nor the remorseful from tearing his hair. Vice is this much more violent than fire or sword.
PL MOR 6. P367.
Metrocles, [a Cynic] who slept among the sheep in winter and under the gateways of sacred precincts in summer, challenged the king of the Persians, who winters in Babylon and summers in Media, to vie with him in happiness.
PL MOR 6. P369.
Whom then do certain things make wretched? The unmanly, irrational, unpracticed and untrained, those who retain their childhood notions unchanged. Fortune does not bring about unhappiness when she does not have Vice to co-operate with her.
PL MOR 6. P371.
Lay yourself open to investigation and you will find a storehouse, as Democritus says, of all manner of evils and abnormal states which do not flow in from outside.
PL MOR 6. P383.
The diseases of the flesh are detected by the pulse and temperature and sudden pains, but the evils of the soul escape notice and are for this reason worse evils since the sufferer is unaware of them.
PL MOR 6. P383.
When men act foolishly or licentiously or unjustly they do not think they are doing wrong, some even think they are doing right. No one has ever called a fever ‘health,’ yet many call hot temper ‘manliness’. The sick of body seek a cure while the sick of soul cultivate their illness.
PL MOR 6. P385.
It is worse to be sick in soul than to be sick in body, because men with afflicted bodies only suffer, whereas those sick in soul both suffer and do ill.
PL MOR 6. P389.
If you examined every lawsuit as you would a person, you would find that obstinate anger begot one, frantic ambition another, unjust desire a third and so on.
PL MOR 6. P391.
The words of reason that cure garrulousness require listeners, but the garrulous listen to nobody as they are always talking. The first symptom of their ailment is a looseness of the tongue and an impotence of the ears.
PL MOR 6. P397.
With some diseases of the soul such as love of money, love of glory or love of pleasure, there is the possibility of attaining the desire. With babblers this is very difficult since they require listeners and listeners avoid them.
PL MOR 6. P399.
Nature has placed about the tongue a stockade of teeth such that when it shuns reason we may bite it.
PL MOR 6. P403.
Men believe that storerooms without doors and purses without strings are useless, and yet keep their mouths open and unbarred.
PL MOR 6. P403.
The purpose of speech is to engender belief in the listener; chatterers are doubted even when they tell the truth.
PL MOR 6. P403.
Every self respecting man should avoid drunkenness, While anger lives next door to madness, drunkenness lives in the same house, for drunkenness is madness and more culpable because the will is involved. No fault is so generally ascribed to drunkenness as that of intemperate and unlimited speech.
PL MOR 6. P405.
Foolish talk converts the influence of wine into drunkenness.
PL MOR 6. P407.
Of the afflictions, some are dangerous, some detestable, some ridiculous; garrulousness has all of these faults at once.
PL MOR 6. P411. 383
In speaking we have men as teachers, but in keeping silence we have the gods.
PL MOR 6. P417.
Those who have received a noble education learn first to be silent and then to speak.
PL MOR 6. P421.
If a story ought not to be known it is wrong for it to be told to another. If you have let the secret slip and seek to confine it to another you have taken refuge in another’s good faith when you have abandoned your own.
PL MOR 6. P423.
We only grow distressed with our ailments when we have perceived the injuries and shame which result from them.
PL MOR 6. P443.
It is impossible to check a babbler by gripping the reins, his disease must be mastered by training; in the first place, when questions are asked let him accustom himself to remaining silent until all have refused a response.
PL MOR 6. P449.
In a race victory is his who comes in first. In philosophy, if another makes a sufficient answer, it is proper to join in approval and acquire a reputation for being a friendly fellow.
PL MOR 6. P451.
In particular, when someone has been asked a question, let us be on our guard not to forestall him by taking the answer out of his mouth. We will be casting a slur on him as being unable to answer and he who asked as being ignorant as to whom to ask; such precipitancy in answering questions smacks of insolence.
PL MOR 6. P451.
The man who wishes to make a correct answer must wait to apprehend the exact sense and intent of the question.
PL MOR 6. P455.
There are three kinds of answers to questions: the barely necessary, the polite, and the superfluous.
PL MOR 6. P455.
We must follow the question step by step and circumscribe our answer within the circle which the questioner’s need gives both centre and radius.
PL MOR 6. P457.
Talkativeness will be less unpleasant when its excesses are in some learned subject.
PL MOR 6. P463.
At the very moment you are about to speak, pause: What remark is so pressing and importunate? What object is your tongue panting for? What good will come of its being expressed? What ill at its suppression?
PL MOR 6. P465.
If a remark is neither useful to the speaker nor of consequence to the hearers and if pleasure or charm is not in it, why is it made?
PL MOR 6. P465.
I have often repented speaking, but never of holding my tongue. Simonides.
PL MOR 6. P465.
Practice is master of all things and overcomes all else. Silence not only delays thirst, but also never causes sorrow and suffering. Hippocrates.
PL MOR 6. P467.
Shift your curiosity from things without to things within; if you enjoy dealing with the recital of troubles, you have much occupation at home.
PL MOR 6. P475.
The busybody is more useful to his enemies than to himself for he rebukes and draws out their faults and demonstrates to them what they should avoid or correct while he neglects the greater part of his domestic errors.
PL MOR 6. P477.
While we treat our own affairs with laxity, ignorance and neglect, we pry into the pedigrees of the rest of the world.
PL MOR 6. P479.
When Aristippus had gleaned a few odd seeds and samples of Socrates’ talk, he was so moved that he suffered a physical collapse and became quite pale and thin. Finally he sailed for Athens and slaked his burning thirst with draughts from the fountainhead and engaged in a study of the man and his words and philosophy, of which the end and aim was to come to recognize one’s own vices and so rid oneself of them.
PL MOR 6. P479.
What are you carrying that is wrapped up? That’s why it is wrapped up, replied the Egyptian.
PL MOR 6. P481.
King Lysimachus asked Philippides what he could share with him: Anything you like Sire, except your secrets. Philippides.
PL MOR 6. P431.
How to escape from a vice? By shifting our thoughts and soul to better and more pleasant subjects: direct your curiosity to heavenly things and things on earth, the air and the sea.
PL MOR 6. P485.
Curiosity takes no pleasure in stale calamities, it wants them hot and fresh.
PL MOR 6. P487.
Envy is pain at another’s good, while malignancy is joy at another’s evil; both spring from the savage and bestial affliction of a vicious nature.
PL MOR 6. P491.
Busybodies abandon to ruin their own interests in their excessive occupation with those of others.
PL MOR 6. P493.
