For to err in opinion, though it be not the part of wise men, is at least human.
Interpretation
Making mistakes in judgment is a natural human trait, even if it may not reflect wisdom.
This quote by Plutarch highlights the inevitability of making errors in our opinions and judgments. While wise individuals strive to avoid mistakes, the acknowledgment that being wrong is a fundamentally human experience serves as a reminder of our fallibility and the importance of humility in our judgments.
In practice
In a discussion about decision-making, I could use this quote to emphasize the importance of accepting human errors.
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
People cannot hurt you without your permission.
What makes authentic disciples is not visions, ecstasies, biblical mastery of chapter and verse, or spectacular success in the ministry, but a capacity for faithfulness. Buffeted by the fickle winds of failure, battered by their own unruly emotions, and bruised by rejection and ridicule, authentic disciples may have stumbled and frequently fallen, endured lapses and relapses, gotten handcuffed to the fleshpots and wandered into a far county. Yet, they kept coming back to Jesus.
A psychologist said to me, there are only two important questions you have to ask yourself. What do you really feel? And, what do you really want? If you can answer those two, you probably can leave your neuroses behind you.
But their intervention makes our acts to serve ever less merely the immediate claims of our instincts.
You don't have to turn this into something. It doesn't have to upset you. Things can't shape our decisions by themselves.
Most people use their energy attempting to rearrange circumstances that trigger painful emotions. Changing external circumstances will not change your rigid patterns of emotional response. That requires looking at the patterns themselves.
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