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
It is necessary ... for a man to go away by himself ... to sit on a rock ... and ask, 'Who am I, where have I been, and where am I going?
The true cost to the world of a burger is far greater than the money you hand over to buy it.
It takes time for the absent to assume their true shape in our thoughts.
For neither good nor evil can last for ever; and so it follows that as evil has lasted a long time, good must now be close at hand.
It was behaviour that I thought not far from racism, sexism or any other kind of prejudice or snobbery. 'Because you are not cute, I do not want to know you' was, to me, hardly different from suggesting 'because you are gay, I dislike you
...I have always lived on contrasts! To me the only death is monotony. Beware of monotony; it's the mother of all the deadly sins.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.