As geographers, Sosius, crowd into the edges of their maps parts of the world which they do not know about, adding notes in the margin to the effect that beyond this lies nothing but sandy deserts full of wild beasts, and unapproachable bogs.
Interpretation
The quote illustrates the tendency to fear the unknown and fill gaps in knowledge with assumptions.
In this quote, Plutarch uses the metaphor of geographers who draw maps to highlight how people often confront the unknown with fear and conjecture. The geographers' annotations suggest that what lies beyond their knowledge is inhospitable and perilous, reflecting a common human inclination to avoid exploring unfamiliar territories, whether in thought, experience, or understanding. This captures the essence of how ignorance can breed misconceptions and hinder the pursuit of knowledge.
In practice
This quote can be used in a discussion about the importance of facing fears and embracing the unknown.
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
When even the dictators of today appeal to reason, they mean that they possess the most tanks. They were rational enough to build them; others should be rational enough to yield to them.
Every church that has a standard higher than human welfare is dangerous.
Descriptions of inner, spiritual processes are much more liable to misunderstanding than descriptions of events in the physical world. Such misunderstandings arise easily because the life of the soul is in constant movement and because we fail to bear in mind that the life of the soul is very different from life in the physical world.
Government means always coercion and compulsion and is by necessity the opposite of liberty.
If the Lord wills, we shall make this Math a great centre of harmony. Our Lord is the visible embodiment of the harmony of all ideals. He will be established on earth if we keep alive that spirit of harmony here. We must see to it that people of all creeds and sects, from the Brahmana down to the Chandala, may come here and find their respective ideals manifested.
Charity is great, but the moment you say it is all, you run the risk of running into materialism.
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