Meaning of the quote

Your character, or the kind of person you are, is formed by the habits you practice over a long period of time. If you develop good habits, like being kind or working hard, those habits will become a part of who you are. But if you have bad habits, like being lazy or rude, those will also become a part of your character over time. In the end, your character is shaped by the everyday choices you make and the behaviors you repeat again and again.

About Plutarch

Plutarch was a Greek philosopher, historian, and biographer who lived in the 1st century AD. He is best known for his Parallel Lives, a series of biographies of famous Greeks and Romans, as well as his collection of essays and speeches called Moralia. Plutarch was a priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi and possibly became a Roman citizen, taking the name Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus.

More about the author

More quotes from Plutarch

I don’t need a friend who changes when I change and who nods when I nod; my shadow does that much better.

Plutarch

Greek philosopher and historian (c. AD 46 - after AD 119)

Character is simply habit long continued.

Plutarch

Greek philosopher and historian (c. AD 46 - after AD 119)

To be ignorant of the lives of the most celebrated men of antiquity is to continue in a state of childhood all our days.

Plutarch

Greek philosopher and historian (c. AD 46 - after AD 119)

The omission of good is no less reprehensible than the commission of evil.

Plutarch

Greek philosopher and historian (c. AD 46 - after AD 119)

Neither blame or praise yourself.

Plutarch

Greek philosopher and historian (c. AD 46 - after AD 119)

If I were not Alexander, I would be Diogenes.

Plutarch

Greek philosopher and historian (c. AD 46 - after AD 119)

Nothing is harder to direct than a man in prosperity; nothing more easily managed that one is adversity.

Plutarch

Greek philosopher and historian (c. AD 46 - after AD 119)

Do not speak of your happiness to one less fortunate than yourself.

Plutarch

Greek philosopher and historian (c. AD 46 - after AD 119)

Painting is silent poetry, and poetry is painting that speaks.

Plutarch

Greek philosopher and historian (c. AD 46 - after AD 119)

Courage consists not in hazarding without fear; but being resolutely minded in a just cause.

Plutarch

Greek philosopher and historian (c. AD 46 - after AD 119)

It is part of a good man to do great and noble deeds, though he risk everything.

Plutarch

Greek philosopher and historian (c. AD 46 - after AD 119)

Character is long-standing habit.

Plutarch

Greek philosopher and historian (c. AD 46 - after AD 119)

A few vices are sufficient to darken many virtues.

Plutarch

Greek philosopher and historian (c. AD 46 - after AD 119)

Silence at the proper season is wisdom, and better than any speech.

Plutarch

Greek philosopher and historian (c. AD 46 - after AD 119)

The real destroyer of the liberties of the people is he who spreads among them bounties, donations and benefits.

Plutarch

Greek philosopher and historian (c. AD 46 - after AD 119)

The wildest colts make the best horses.

Plutarch

Greek philosopher and historian (c. AD 46 - after AD 119)

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.

Plutarch

Greek philosopher and historian (c. AD 46 - after AD 119)

For to err in opinion, though it be not the part of wise men, is at least human.

Plutarch

Greek philosopher and historian (c. AD 46 - after AD 119)

Those who aim at great deeds must also suffer greatly.

Plutarch

Greek philosopher and historian (c. AD 46 - after AD 119)

Courage stands halfway between cowardice and rashness, one of which is a lack, the other an excess of courage.

Plutarch

Greek philosopher and historian (c. AD 46 - after AD 119)

To find fault is easy; to do better may be difficult.

Plutarch

Greek philosopher and historian (c. AD 46 - after AD 119)

We ought not to treat living creatures like shoes or household belongings, which when worn with use we throw away.

Plutarch

Greek philosopher and historian (c. AD 46 - after AD 119)

An imbalance between rich and poor is the oldest and most fatal ailment of all republics.

Plutarch

Greek philosopher and historian (c. AD 46 - after AD 119)

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.

Plutarch

Greek philosopher and historian (c. AD 46 - after AD 119)

It were better to have no opinion of God at all than such a one as is unworthy of him; for the one is only belief – the other contempt.

Plutarch

Greek philosopher and historian (c. AD 46 - after AD 119)

Moral habits, induced by public practices, are far quicker in making their way into men’s private lives, than the failings and faults of individuals are in infecting the city at large.

Plutarch

Greek philosopher and historian (c. AD 46 - after AD 119)

When the strong box contains no more both friends and flatterers shun the door.

Plutarch

Greek philosopher and historian (c. AD 46 - after AD 119)

I would rather excel in the knowledge of what is excellent, than in the extent of my power and possessions.

Plutarch

Greek philosopher and historian (c. AD 46 - after AD 119)

Know how to listen, and you will profit even from those who talk badly.

Plutarch

Greek philosopher and historian (c. AD 46 - after AD 119)

Fate leads him who follows it, and drags him who resist.

Plutarch

Greek philosopher and historian (c. AD 46 - after AD 119)

To make no mistakes is not in the power of man; but from their errors and mistakes the wise and good learn wisdom for the future.

Plutarch

Greek philosopher and historian (c. AD 46 - after AD 119)

Prosperity is no just scale; adversity is the only balance to weigh friends.

Plutarch

Greek philosopher and historian (c. AD 46 - after AD 119)

The very spring and root of honesty and virtue lie in good education.

Plutarch

Greek philosopher and historian (c. AD 46 - after AD 119)

In words are seen the state of mind and character and disposition of the speaker.

Plutarch

Greek philosopher and historian (c. AD 46 - after AD 119)

Medicine to produce health must examine disease; and music, to create harmony must investigate discord.

Plutarch

Greek philosopher and historian (c. AD 46 - after AD 119)

No man ever wetted clay and then left it, as if there would be bricks by chance and fortune.

Plutarch

Greek philosopher and historian (c. AD 46 - after AD 119)

Let us carefully observe those good qualities wherein our enemies excel us; and endeavor to excel them, by avoiding what is faulty, and imitating what is excellent in them.

Plutarch

Greek philosopher and historian (c. AD 46 - after AD 119)

What we achieve inwardly will change outer reality.

Plutarch

Greek philosopher and historian (c. AD 46 - after AD 119)

The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled.

Plutarch

Greek philosopher and historian (c. AD 46 - after AD 119)

It is indeed a desirable thing to be well-descended, but the glory belongs to our ancestors.

Plutarch

Greek philosopher and historian (c. AD 46 - after AD 119)