Everyone's familiar with quotes like "Then we will fight in the shade" that have been attributed to Spartans in movies and other stuff, but did they really have such a sharp tongue? According to Plutarch, yes, they definitely did.
Sayings of Spartans (Unknown):
http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/...*/unknown.html
Ex. "
Someone on seeing a painting in which Spartans were depicted as slain by Athenians, kept repeating, "Brave, brave Athenians." A Spartan cut in with, "Yes, in the picture!""
Sayings of Spartans (attributed):
http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/...ans*/main.html
Ex.
"When the physician said to him, "You have lived to be an old man," he said, "That is because I never employed you as my physician." (Pausanias, the son of Pleistoanax)
Sayings of Spartan women:
http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/...an_women*.html
Ex.
"In answer to her son who said that the sword which he carried was short, said, "Add a step to it."
