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
No book, however good, can survive a hostile reading.
Teaching like any truly human activity emerges from one's inwardness.
Every time a book changes hands, every time someone runs his eyes down its pages, its spirit grows and strengthens.
Universities should be safe havens where ruthless examination of realities will not be distorted by the aim to please or inhibited by the risk of displeasure.
During my first semester of college, I raised my hand in a class and asked the professor to define a word I didn't know. The word was holocaust, and I had to ask because, until that moment, I had never heard of it.
One cannot guess how a word functions. One has to look at its use and learn from that. But the difficulty is to remove the prejudice which stands in the way of doing this. It is not a stupid prejudice.
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