“ in human affairs there is nothing pure and without alloy. ”
Plutarch, Moralia (c. 100 AD). copy citation
| Author | Plutarch |
|---|---|
| Source | Moralia |
| Topic | |
| 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, as we use our brightest colours in a picture, so in the mind we ought to look at the cheerful and bright side of things, and hide and keep down the gloomy, for we cannot altogether obliterate or get rid of it. For, as the strings of the bow and lyre are alternately tightened and relaxed, so is it with the order of the world; in human affairs there is nothing pure and without alloy. But as in music there are high and low notes, and in grammar vowels and mutes, but neither the musician nor grammarian decline to use either kinds, but know how to blend and employ them both for their purpose, so in human affairs which are balanced one against another,—for, as Euripides says,”
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