Frases de Plutarco

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“No cometer errores no está en las manos del hombre; pero de sus errores y equivocaciones el sabio y bueno aprende sabiduría para el futuro.”

“Aprende a escuchar, y te beneficiarás incluso de aquellos que hablan mal.”

“El cerebro no es un vaso por llenar, sino una lámpara por encender.”

“La lectura hace al hombre completo, la conversación lo hace ágil, la escritura lo hace exacto.”

“Para saber hablar es preciso saber escuchar.”

“Los cazadores atrapan las liebres con los perros, muchos hombres atrapan a los ignorantes con la adulación.”

“Es lo mejor, para todos los hombres y mujeres, no nacer; y lo segundo después de esto —la primera cosa que pueden conseguir los hombres— es, una vez nacidos, morir tan rápido como se pueda.”

“«La amistad es animal de compañía, no de rebaño».”

“«Si hacéis amistad con un cojo, aprended a cojear».”

“Hay amores tan bellos que justifican todas las locuras que hacen cometer.”

“A la cogujada no puede faltarle moño, ni tampoco al gobierno popular calumniador.”

“Quien tiene muchos vicios, tiene muchos amos.”

“El que abusa, para engañar, del juramento, reconoce que teme a su enemigo y que insulta a Dios.”

“El verdadero sabio sólo es riguroso consigo mismo; con los demás es amable.”

“La maldad aún con nobleza es digna de desprecio.”

“Los más sufrimos peor las malas palabras que las malas obras, porque es más difícil llevar el desprecio que la pérdida.”

“No puede ejecutar cosas grandes el que tiene su atención en las pequeñas.”

“Así hasta esto tuvo en su favor Argesilao: entrar a mandar sabiendo obedecer.”

“¡Cuán cierto es que la fortuna está muy fuera del alcance del juicio humano, y que respecto a ella nada sirven nuestros raciocinios!”

“El amor a la paz es verdaderamente divino.”

“Es cosa deseable tener una buena ascendencia, pero la gloria pertenece a nuestros antepasados.”

“Esclavos de los más ruines, a trueque de mandar a los mejores.”

“La maldad contiene los motivos de su propio tormento. Es un maravilloso artesano de una vida miserable.”

“Leones en casa, zorras en lo razo.”

“Lo entregó todo al fuego, que no hace distinción entre los culpados y los que no lo son.”

“Lo justo debe ser la medida real con que se regule la mayoría y excelencia del poder.”

“Lo que hagas sin esfuerzo y con presteza, durar no puede ni tener belleza.”

“Los caracteres ambiciosos, que no saben en la república guardar un justo medio, hacen más daño que provecho.”

“Los dichos injuriosos parece que nacen de sobrado rencor y sobrada malicia.”

“Para la plebe, el mayor honor de parte de los más poderosos es el que no la desprecien.”

“Por un pequeño bocado de carne privamos a un alma del Sol y de la luz y del gozo de la porción de vida y tiempo por la que había nacido al mundo.”

“Sería lo mismo motejar a Heracles de tímido, que acusar a Catón de avaro.”

“Un ejército de ciervos dirigido por un león es mucho más temible que un ejército de leones mandado por un ciervo.”

“Disfrutar de todos los placeres es insensato; evitarlos, insensible.”

“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.”