Plutarch Quotes
He is a fool who lets slip a bird in the hand for a bird in the bush.
Plutarch. Plutarch's Morals. Translated by William W. Goodwin, vol. 4, Little, Brown, and Company, 1878, p. 238.
General Butler, when acting as Military Governor of New Orleans, requisitioned $80,000 from a local bank which he never accounted for. In a later legal action, he was reproached by a lawyer for the bank, asking what Butler's neighbors back in Massachusetts would think of his action. This was his response.
This admonition of his applied not only to initiating war, but to increasing unemployment for a worthy purpose like controlling inflation. He sought solutions where pain was borne by tall if necessary, but not to particular subgroups (identifiable or not) to the degree that they would suffer badly. In general, we should not sacrifice some for the good of the whole without their volunteering, as in a volunteer army.
Plutarch (/ˈpluːtɑːrk/; Greek: Πλούταρχος, Ploútarchos; Koine Greek: [ˈplutarkʰos]; AD 46–after AD 119) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo. He is known primarily for his Parallel Lives, a series of biographies of illustrious Greeks and Romans, and Moralia, a collection of essays and speeches. Upon becoming a Roman citizen, he was named Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus (Λούκιος Μέστριος Πλούταρχος).
