It is a hard matter, my fellow citizens, to argue with the belly, since it has no ears.
Interpretation
Arguments driven by basic needs are often futile.
This quote by Plutarch suggests that when people are driven by their basic needs, like hunger, they are less likely to listen to reason or engage in thoughtful discussion. It highlights the challenges in communicating effectively when someone is primarily focused on fulfilling their immediate physical needs, indicating that addressing such needs is foundational before productive dialogue can occur.
In practice
A politician could use this quote when discussing the importance of addressing basic needs before engaging the public in complex policies.
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
See that you buy the field where the Pearl is; sell all, and make a purchase of salvation. Think it not easy: for it is a steep ascent to eternal glory: many are lying dead by the way, slain with security.
The future lay before him, inevitable but invisible.
As a chef, I always have in mind how to properly feed the public, but at times it's easy to forget that some people have trouble even getting any food, much less adequate nutrition.
The monsters of our childhood do not fade away, neither are they ever wholly monstrous.
For some reason, we're brainwashed to think if you're not a thug or an idiot, you're not black enough. If you go to school, make good grades, speak intelligent, and don't break the law, you're not a good black person.
This uneasiness comes over me from time to time, and I feel as if I've somehow been pieced together from two different puzzles.
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