Theophrastus Quotes

"An orator without judgment is a horse without a bridle."
-Theophrastus

"One may define flattery as a base companionship which is most advantageous to the flatterer."
-Theophrastus

"The unseasonable man is the sort of person who comes up to you when you are head over ears in work and confides to you all about it. He serenades his mistress when she is ill with fever. He approaches a man who has been cast in a surety case and asks him to stand surety for him. He appears to give evidence after the verdict is given."
-Theophrastus

"I would define boastfulness to be the pretension to good which the boaster does not possess."
-Theophrastus

"Late-learning, I think, is the desire for learning inconsistent with one's advanced age."
-Theophrastus

"The man of petty ambition if invited to dinner will be eager to be set next his host."
-Theophrastus

"Ah, yes, superstition: it would appear to be cowardice in face of the supernatural."
-Theophrastus

"We must consider the distinctive characters and the general nature of plants from the point of view of their morphology , their behavior under external conditions, their mode of generation, and the whole course of their life."
-Theophrastus

"Surliness is incivility in speech."
-Theophrastus