For the correct analogy for the mind is not a vessel that needs filling, but wood that needs igniting.
Interpretation
The mind should be inspired and encouraged to think critically rather than just filled with information.
In this quote by Plutarch, he suggests that the mind is not merely a container for facts but rather a dynamic entity that requires stimulation and inspiration to reach its full potential. The analogy of wood needing ignition implies that the best learning occurs when individuals are motivated to explore, question, and engage actively with knowledge rather than passively absorbing it.
In practice
This quote can be used in a classroom setting to encourage students to think creatively.
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.
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.
We may not be able to prepare the future for our children, but we can at least prepare our children for the future.
I do my precalc homework, and then when I'm done I actually sit with the textbook for like three hours and try to understand what I just did. That's the kind of weekend it is--the kind where you have so much time you go past the answers and start looking into the ideas.
Policies to strengthen education and training, to encourage entrepreneurship and innovation, and to promote capital investment, both public and private, could all potentially be of great benefit in improving future living standards in our nation.
Most of these students are so conditioned to success that they become afraid to take risks. They have been taught from a young age by zealous parents, schools, and institutional authorities what constitutes failure and success. They are socialized to obey. They obsess over grades and seek to please professors, even if what professors teach is fatuous. The point is to get ahead, and getting ahead means deference to authority. Challenging authority is never a career advancer.
Education is simply the soul of a society as it passes from one generation to another.
Journalism is what we need to make democracy work.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.