“ It is more pleasure associating with bad men who have tact than with good men who prate. ”
Plutarch, Moralia (c. 100 AD). copy citation
| Author | Plutarch |
|---|---|
| Source | Moralia |
| Topic | pleasure tact |
| Date | c. 100 AD |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | Translated by Arthur Richard Shilleto |
| Weblink | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/23639/23639-h/23639-h.htm |
Context
“but the talkative man prates everywhere, in the market-place, in the theatre, out walking, by night and by day. If he is your doctor, he is more trouble to you than your disease: if he is on board ship with you, he disgusts you more than sea-sickness; if he praises you, he is more fulsome than blame. It is more pleasure associating with bad men who have tact than with good men who prate. 218Nestor indeed in Sophocles' Play, trying by his words to soothe exasperated Ajax, said to him mildly,
"I blame you not, for though your words are bad, Your acts are good:"
but we cannot feel so to the talkative man, for his want of tact in words destroys and undoes all the grace of his actions.”
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