Plutarch ( 46 ~ 120 )
The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled.
Neither blame or praise yourself.
It is part of a good man to do great and noble deeds, though he risk everything.
Painting is silent poetry, and poetry is painting that speaks.
Know how to listen, and you will profit even from those who talk badly.
To find a fault is easy; to do better may be difficult.
I don't need a friend who changes when I change and who nods when I nod; my shadow does that much better.
Prosperity is no just scale; adversity is the only balance to weigh friends.
For to err in opinion, though it be not the part of wise men, is at least human.
The wildest colts make the best horses.
Nothing is harder to direct than a man in prosperity; nothing more easily managed that one is adversity.
A few vices are sufficient to darken many virtues.
The whole life is but a point of time; let us enjoy it, therefore, while it lasts, and not spend it to no purpose.
It is indeed a desirable thing to be well-descended, but the glory belongs to our ancestors.
When the candles are out all women are fair.
No beast is more savage than man when possessed with power answerable to his rage.
The omission of good is no less reprehensible than the commission of evil.
Character is simply habit long continued.
The whole life of man is but a point of time; let us enjoy it.
No man ever wetted clay and then left it, as if there would be bricks by chance and fortune.
The man who is completely wise and virtuous has no need of glory, except so far as it disposes and eases his way to action by the greater trust that it procures him.
Water continually dropping will wear hard rocks hollow.
Those who aim at great deeds must also suffer greatly.
All men whilst they are awake are in one common world: but each of them, when he is asleep, is in a world of his own.
Do not speak of your happiness to one less fortunate than yourself.
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.
In words are seen the state of mind and character and disposition of the speaker.
What we achieve inwardly will change outer reality.
The very spring and root of honesty and virtue lie in good education.
An imbalance between rich and poor is the oldest and most fatal ailment of all republics.
The measure of a man is the way he bears up under misfortune.
I would rather excel in the knowledge of what is excellent, than in the extent of my power and possessions.
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.