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.
Interpretation
It's better to have no beliefs about God than to hold an unworthy opinion about Him.
This quote by Plutarch suggests that having a low or contemptuous opinion of God is more detrimental than having no opinion whatsoever. It highlights the importance of forming respectful and worthy beliefs about divine matters, implying that the nature of one's understanding of God can reflect deeply on one's character and moral standing.
In practice
During a philosophical discussion on the nature of belief and its implications on morality, this quote can help frame the argument.
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.
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
I don't need a friend who changes when I change and who nods when I nod; my shadow does that much better.
Truth, as any dictionary will tell you, is a property of certain of our ideas. It means their agreement, as falsity means their disagreement, with reality.
We had been everywhere. We had really seen nothing. And I catch myself thinking today that our long journey had only defiled with a sinuous trail of slime the lovely, trustful, dreamy, enormous country that by then, in retrospect, was no more to us than a collection of dog-eared maps, ruined tour books, old tires, and her sobs in the night β every night, every night β the moment I feigned sleep.
There is nothing more natural than to consider everything as starting from oneself, chosen as the center of the world; one finds oneself thus capable of condemning the world without even wanting to hear its deceitful chatter.
I seemed like a baby bird keeping its truly innocent animal lusts hidden under its wing. I was being tempted, not by the desire of possession, but simply by unadorned temptation itself.
I have a dreadful fear that the more you try to prevent revealing the self the more you do.
Though we travel the world over to find beauty, we must carry it with us or we find it not . . . The difference between landscape and landscape is small, but there is a great difference in beholders.
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