“ What most of all enables a man to serve the public is not wealth, but content and independence ”
Plutarch, Parallel Lives (c. 100 AD). copy citation
| Author | Plutarch |
|---|---|
| Source | Parallel Lives |
| Topic | independence wealth |
| Date | c. 100 AD |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | Translated by A. H. Clough |
| Weblink | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/674/674-h/674-h.htm |
Context
“whereas in a person that is temperate, industrious, just, and valiant, and who uses all his virtues for the public good, it shows a great and lofty mind. For he has no time for great matters, who concerns himself with petty ones; nor can he relieve many needs of others, who himself has many needs of his own. What most of all enables a man to serve the public is not wealth, but content and independence; which, requiring no superfluity at home, distracts not the mind from the common good. God alone is entirely exempt from all want: of human virtues, that which needs least, is the most absolute and most divine.”
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