To be ignorant of the lives of the most celebrated men of antiquity is to continue in a state of childhood all our days.
Interpretation
Understanding history and great figures is crucial for personal growth and maturity.
Plutarch emphasizes the importance of knowledge and history in shaping our understanding of the world. Ignorance of the accomplishments and lives of renowned historical figures limits our intellectual development and keeps us in a naive state, akin to that of a child. By studying the past, we can gain wisdom and perspective that guide us through life.
In practice
This quote can be used in an educational setting to encourage students to engage with history actively.
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
One of the great things about books is you can afford to do anything.
A quality education grants us the ability to fight the war on ignorance and poverty.
The greatest gift is a passion for reading. It is cheap, it consoles, it distracts, it excites, it gives you knowledge of the world and experience of a wide kind. It is a moral illumination.
Real education should consist of drawing the goodness and the best out of our own students. What better books can there be than the book of humanity?
Reading is the gateway skill that makes all other learning possible
Reading to our children and our grandchildren is something we can all try to do every day of the year. Not only does it give us pleasure but it leads them on a voyage of discovery and enrichment that only books can bring.
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