Apophthegmata Laconica

Plutarch

Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. III. Babbitt, Frank Cole, translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1931 (printing).

Labotas, when someone spoke at very great length, said, Why, pray, such a big introduction to a small subject? For proportionate to the topic should be the words you use. [*](Cf. the note on Moralia, 208 C (3), supra. )

Leotychidas the First, when somebody remarked to him that he was very changeable, said, Yes, because of varying occasion; not like all you because of your baseness.

In answer to the man who asked how any man could best preserve his present state of good fortune, he said, By not trusting everything to chance.