Seeing the lightest and gayest purple was then most in fashion, he would always wear that which was the nearest black; and he would often go out of doors, after his morning meal, without either shoes or tunic; not that he sought vain-glory from such novelties, but he would accustom himself to be ashamed only of what deserves shame, and to despise all other sorts of disgrace.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes valuing true shame over superficial perceptions and societal norms.
Plutarch reflects on the importance of focusing on genuine disgrace rather than conforming to societal expectations. By choosing to wear black when purple is in fashion and going without shoes or a tunic, he illustrates the rejection of vanity and superficiality. He suggests that one should only feel shame for actions that truly deserve it and disregard trivial criticisms from others.
In practice
This quote can be used in a speech about individualism at a school graduation ceremony.
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
By simple common sense I don't believe in God, in none.
One's own free and unfettered volition, one's own caprice, however wild, one's own fancy, inflamed sometimes to the point of madness - that is the one best and greatest good, which is never taken into consideration because it cannot fit into any classification and the omission of which sends all systems and theories to the devil.
The Secretary-General must be a determined advocate for the values of tolerance and solidarity - universal values that are shared by cultures and religions around the globe.
Your lordship, though not clean past your youth, have yet some smack of age in you, some relish of the saltiness of time.
Ultimately, there is no entity called 'government'; there are only people forming themselves into groups called 'governments' and acting in a 'governmental' manner.
When I think about the world I would like to leave to my daughter and the grandchildren I hope to have, it is a world that moves away from unequal, unstable, unsustainable interdependence to integrated communities - locally, nationally and globally - that share the characteristics of all successful communities.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.