Plútarchos citáty

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„Ak budete vedieť ako počúvať, budete profitovať aj z tých, ktorí hovoria zle.“

„Myseľ nie je loď, ktorá sa má naplniť, ale oheň, ktorý sa má zapáliť.“

„Mlčanie v pravý čas je múdrosť a je lepšie ako akákoľvek reč.“

„Človek sa nemôže mýliť, ale múdri a dobrí sa zo svojich chýb a omylov učia múdrosti pre budúcnosť.“

„To, čo dosiahneme v našom vnútri, zmení aj našu vonkajšiu realitu.“

„Najstaršia a najväčšia láska je láska k životu.“

„Kto miluje, ten nevšímavosť nemá rád.“

„Vychádzajúce slnko privádza so svetlom činy a myšlienky všetkých ľudí. Ako vraví Demokritos, s novým dňom ľudia dostávajú nové myšlienky a z túžby po vzájomnom priateľstve, akoby napätým lanom stiahnutí, schádzajú sa každý odinakiaľ k práci.“

„Mlčky a bez slova sa v spoločnosti napchávať je vlastnosťou svíň.“

„Nádej je spoločná všetkým. Kto nič nemá, má aspoň nádej.“

„V cnosti je cena života, nie v dlhom veku.“

„Práca je človeku ako vlaha rastline - živí ho, ale môže ho aj zatopiť.“

„Priateľovi ničím nemôžeš ublížiť viac, ako keď rozdeľuješ cit, alebo čas, ktorý by si mohol stráviť s priateľom, s niekým druhým.“

„Víno je medzi nápojmi najušľachtilejšie, medzi liekmi najchutnejšie a medzi pokrmami najpríjemnejšie!“

„Dobrý manžel si zaslúži väčšiu chválu ako dobrý senátor.“

„Keď znášame chyby svojich priateľov, prečo neznášame chyby svojich detí?“

„Nič nie je také hybké ako jazyk ženy, nič nie je záludnejšie ako výčitky, nič nie je hroznejšie ako zlosť, nič háklivejšie ako jej slzy.“

„Obraz je mlčiaca báseň a báseň je hovoriaci obraz.“

„Po dlhej únave odpočinok je korením práce.“

„Verte, že robia chyby tí, ktorí spolu spia len pre rozkoš, ale ak sa nejako pohnevajú a pohašteria, ľahnú si oddelene a zabúdajú práve títo najviac vzývať Afroditu, ktorá bývala v podobných prípadoch najlepšou lekárkou.“

„Luk sa láme, keď je napnutý, ale duša stráca svoje sily nečinnosťou.“

„Keď sa Lapisa pýtali, ako získal bohatstvo, odpovedal: Veľký majetok som získal ľahko, malý len po dlhej a veľkej námahe.“

„Keď sú sviece zhasnuté, všetky ženy sú krásne.“

„Cnosť je dobrý zvyk.“

„Človek môže mať veľa priateľov, ale málo spoľahlivých priateľov. Nepotrebujem priateľa, ktorý prikyvuje na všetko, čo poviem. Môj tieň kýva presnejšie.“

„Dúha nie je nič iné, ako odraz slnečného lúča. Ani rozprávka nie je nič iné, ako zahalená pravda.“

„Je ťažké určený osud predvídať, no ešte ťažšie je vyvarovať sa mu.“

„Keby bol svet spravodlivý, nebola by potrebná udatnosť.“

„Konať dobre - to si vyžaduje svoj čas a svoj vek. Dobré konanie sa líši od zlého práve správnou mierou.“

„Len odvážne ohováraj, vždy sa niečo ujme.“

„Ľudia sú takí neprajní, že sa človek viac zarmucuje pre prednosti iných, ako aby sa radoval zo svojich vlastných.“

„Nájdite mestá, kde nevedia čítať, mestá bez kráľov, bez peňazí, divadiel, palácov, ale mesto bez chrámov a bez bohov, bez obetí… nikto veru nevidel a neuvidí nikdy.“

„Najdôležitejšie a najpríjemnejšie korenie je zdravie.“

„Nič na našom tele nevybavila príroda tak starostlivo ako jazyk - je dôkladne zatvorený a zuby okolo neho stoja ako stráž.“

„Nie je možné milovať a zostať múdrym.“

„Nikdy nepreukazujte dobro, ak nie ste ochotní prijať nevďak.“

„Oddych je korením práce.“

„Priateľ, ktorý sa mení podľa toho, ako sa mením ja, ktorý prikyvuje na všetko, na čo ja, nie je mi prínosom. To ešte lepšie robí môj tieň.“

„Sklon ľudskej povahy k neprajnosti je taký, že sa človek pre úspechy iných trápi väčšmi, než sa raduje zo svojich vlastných.“

“Thus they let their anger and fury take from them the sense of humanity, and demonstrated that no beast is more savage than man when possessed with power answerable to his rage.”

“Alcibiades had a very handsome dog, that cost him seven thousand drachmas; and he cut off his tail, "that," said he, "the Athenians may have this story to tell of me, and may concern themselves no further with me."”

“To one commending an orator for his skill in amplifying petty matters, Agesilaus said, "I do not think that shoemaker a good workman that makes a great shoe for a little foot."”

“Antagoras the poet was boiling a conger, and Antigonus, coming behind him as he was stirring his skillet, said, "Do you think, Antagoras, that Homer boiled congers when he wrote the deeds of Agamemnon?" Antagoras replied, "Do you think, O king, that Agamemnon, when he did such exploits, was a peeping in his army to see who boiled congers?"”

“The pilot cannot mitigate the billows or calm the winds.”

“Authority and place demonstrate and try the tempers of men, by moving every passion and discovering every frailty.”

“Ought a man to be confident that he deserves his good fortune, and think much of himself when he has overcome a nation, or city, or empire; or does fortune give this as an example to the victor also of the uncertainty of human affairs, which never continue in one stay? For what time can there be for us mortals to feel confident, when our victories over others especially compel us to dread fortune, and while we are exulting, the reflection that the fatal day comes now to one, now to another, in regular succession, dashes our joy.”

“He said that in his whole life he most repented of three things: one was that he had trusted a secret to a woman; another, that he went by water when he might have gone by land; the third, that he had remained one whole day without doing any business of moment.”

“You speak truth," said Themistocles; "I should never have been famous if I had been of Seriphus; nor you, had you been of Athens.”

“Said Periander, "Hesiod might as well have kept his breath to cool his pottage."”

“Lamachus chid a captain for a fault; and when he had said he would do so no more, "Sir," said he, "in war there is no room for a second miscarriage." Said one to Iphicrates, "What are ye afraid of?" "Of all speeches," said he, "none is so dishonourable for a general as ‘I should not have thought of it.'"”

“Statesmen are not only liable to give an account of what they say or do in public, but there is a busy inquiry made into their very meals, beds, marriages, and every other sportive or serious action.”

“What spectator… would not exclaim… that through Fortune the foreign host was prevailing beyond its deserts, but through Virtue the Hellenes were holding out beyond their ability? And if the ones (i. e., the enemy) gains the upper hand, this will be the work of Fortune or of some jealous deity or of divine retribution; but if the others (i. e., the Greeks) prevail, it will be Virtue and daring, friendship and fidelity, that will win the guerdon of victory? These were, in fact, the only support that Alexander had with him at this time, since Fortune had put a barrier between him and the rest of his forces and equipment, fleets, horse, and camp. Finally, the Macedonians routed the barbarians, and, when they had fallen, pulled down their city on their heads.”

“T is a wise saying, Drive on your own track.”

“Pythagoras, when he was asked what time was, answered that it was the soul of this world.”

“The most perfect soul, says Heraclitus, is a dry light, which flies out of the body as lightning breaks from a cloud.”

“When one told Plistarchus that a notorious railer spoke well of him, "I 'll lay my life," said he, "somebody hath told him I am dead, for he can speak well of no man living."”

“Marius said, "I see the cure is not worth the pain."”

“Whenever Alexander heard Philip had taken any town of importance, or won any signal victory, instead of rejoicing at it altogether, he would tell his companions that his father would anticipate everything, and leave him and them no opportunities of performing great and illustrious actions.”

“It is no great wonder if in long process of time, while fortune takes her course hither and thither, numerous coincidences should spontaneously occur. If the number and variety of subjects to be wrought upon be infinite, it is all the more easy for fortune, with such an abundance of material, to effect this similarity of results.”

“To conduct great matters and never commit a fault is above the force of human nature.”

“The very spring and root of honesty and virtue lie in the felicity of lighting on good education.”

“What meal is not expensive? That for which no animal is put to death. … one participating of feeling, of seeing, of hearing, of imagination, and of intellection; which each animal hath received from Nature for the acquiring of what is agreeable to it, and the avoiding what is disagreeable.”

“I, for my own part, had much rather people should say of me that there neither is nor ever was such a man as Plutarch, than that they should say, "Plutarch is an unsteady, fickle, froward, vindictive, and touchy fellow."”

“And it is said that when he took his seat for the first time under the golden canopy on the royal throne, Demaratus the Corinthian, a well-meaning man and a friend of Alexander's, as he had been of Alexander's father, burst into tears, as old men will, and declared that those Hellenes were deprived of great pleasure who had died before seeing Alexander seated on the throne of Dareius.”

“Eat not thy heart; which forbids to afflict our souls, and waste them with vexatious cares.”

“And Archimedes, as he was washing, thought of a manner of computing the proportion of gold in King Hiero's crown by seeing the water flowing over the bathing-stool. He leaped up as one possessed or inspired, crying, "I have found it! Eureka!"”

“Pyrrhus said, "If I should overcome the Romans in another fight, I were undone."”

“Cicero called Aristotle a river of flowing gold, and said of Plato's Dialogues, that if Jupiter were to speak, it would be in language like theirs.”