Plutarch

Some memorable quotes from Plutarch's "Lives"

"[I]t was Marius' opinion that daunting objects gain a large number of extra and unreal attributes when they are unfamiliar, while familiarity strips the power to terrify from even inherently frightening things." (Marius)

"[Cato the Elder] even used to say that the only thing he found impressive about Socrates from the old days was that he constantly treated his difficult wife and idiot sons with decency and civility." (Cato the Elder)

"Marius joined forces with the tribune Sulpicius, a man whose consummate villainy was second to none. Rather than asking whether there was anyone who displayed a greater lack of morality, people tended to ask under what circumstances he himself displayed a greater lack of morality than usual." (Sulla)

"[A]narchy is not the result of the commitment, all at once, of a serious crime, but people who fail to be strict about minor matters also destroy the guard that protects more serious concerns." (Aemilius Paullus)