Authority and place demonstrate and try the tempers of men, by moving every passion and discovering every frailty.
Interpretation
This quote suggests that authority tests human character by stirring emotions and revealing weaknesses.
Plutarch's quote highlights how positions of power and societal roles expose the true nature of individuals. When authority acts upon people, it can evoke a range of emotions, from pride to fear, ultimately leading to the revelation of their vulnerabilities and flaws. This passage reflects on the idea that the way individuals respond to authority can profoundly indicate their moral and emotional strength.
In practice
In a discussion about leadership qualities in a seminar.
Sometimes small incidents, rather than glorious exploits, give us the best evidence of character. So, as portrait painters are more exact in doing the face, where the character is revealed, than the rest of the body, I must be allowed to give my more particular attention to the marks of the souls of men.
It were better to have no opinion of God at all than such a one as is unworthy of him; for the one is only belief - the other contempt.
Come back with your shield - or on it
The richest soil, if uncultivated, produces the rankest weeds.
For the correct analogy for the mind is not a vessel that needs filling, but wood that needs igniting.
Our senses through ignorance of Reality, falsely tell us that what appears to be, is. FEAR = False Evidence Appearing Real
The person I am now, compared with the person in the dream, has been baffled and defeated and only supposes he enjoys a full life. In the dreams, I see what a full life really consists of, and it is not what I really have.
Put three grains of sand inside a vast cathedral, and the cathedral will be more closely packed with sand than space is with stars.
Part of the human Self or Soul is not subject to laws of space and time.
The sole meaning of life is to serve humanity by contributing to the establishment of the kingdom of God, which can only be done by the recognition and profession of the truth by every man.
First and foremost, the monk should own nothing in this world, but he should have as his possessions solitude of the body, modesty of bearing, a modulated tone of voice, and a well-ordered manner of speech. He should be without anxiety as to his food and drink, and should eat in silence.
Why can’t the world hear? I ask myself. Within a few moments I ask it many times. Because it doesn’t care, I finally answer, and I know I’m right. It’s like I’ve been chosen. But chosen for what? I ask.
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