For the correct analogy for the mind is not a vessel that needs filling, but wood that needs igniting.
Interpretation
The mind should be inspired and encouraged to think critically rather than just filled with information.
In this quote by Plutarch, he suggests that the mind is not merely a container for facts but rather a dynamic entity that requires stimulation and inspiration to reach its full potential. The analogy of wood needing ignition implies that the best learning occurs when individuals are motivated to explore, question, and engage actively with knowledge rather than passively absorbing it.
In practice
This quote can be used in a classroom setting to encourage students to think creatively.
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.
Our senses through ignorance of Reality, falsely tell us that what appears to be, is. FEAR = False Evidence Appearing Real
I don't need a friend who changes when I change and who nods when I nod; my shadow does that much better.
Until it is kindled by a spirit as flamingly alive as the one which gave it birth a book is dead to us. Words divested of their magic are but dead hieroglyphs.
When I see kids standing next to their mothers at book signings, clutching a copy of 'Forever,' I know what's coming. They'll say to me, 'How old do I have to be to read this?' hoping I'll give them permission. But I can't do that.
Education and health were always matters of charity. You educated children and you helped the sick because they were good things to do, not because you were going to make money out of them. If you let the money-making principle, the profit-seeking motive, anywhere near education and health, things go bad.
Too many years away from academia renders you pretty incompetent at research and teaching. So I had to go back.
Take the example of my daughter. A lot of people were speaking out about education when the Taliban were bombing schools in Swat Valley, but Malala's voice was like a crescendo. It spread all around the world. She was the smallest but her voice was the biggest, because she was speaking for herself.
When I was 13, I started working in a nightclub with Ray Charles. That's the greatest school in the world, the school of the streets. Ray taught me how to read in Braille. He was only two years older than me, but it was like he was 100 years older.
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