Plutarch - Mind Quotes

14 Sourced Quotes

View all Plutarch Quotes
The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled.

Plutarch
In words are seen the state of mind and character and disposition of the speaker.

Plutarch
As Meander says, "For our mind is God;" and as Heraclitus, "Man's genius is a deity."

Plutarch
A remorseful change of mind renders even a noble action base, whereas the determination which is grounded on knowledge and reason cannot change even if its actions fail.

Plutarch
For the correct analogy for the mind is not a vessel that needs filling, but wood that needs igniting.

Plutarch
For the mind does not require filling like a bottle, but rather, like wood, it only requires kindling to create in it an impulse to think independently and an ardent desire for the truth.

Plutarch
By the study of their biographies, we receive each man as a guest into our minds, and we seem to understand their character as the result of a personal acquaintance, because we have obtained from their acts the best and most important means of forming an opinion about them. "What greater pleasure could'st thou gain than this?" What more valuable for the elevation of our own character?

Plutarch
Being conscious of having done a wicked action leaves stings of remorse behind it, which, like an ulcer in the flesh, makes the mind smart with perpetual wounds; for reason, which chases away all other pains, creates repentance, shames the soul with confusion, and punishes it with torment.

Plutarch
Anacharsis said a man's felicity consists not in the outward and visible favours and blessings of Fortune, but in the inward and unseen perfections and riches of the mind.

Plutarch
Good fortune will elevate even petty minds, and give them the appearance of a certain greatness and stateliness, as from their high place they look down upon the world; but the truly noble and resolved spirit raises itself, and becomes more conspicuous in times of disaster and ill fortune.

Plutarch
As soft wax is apt to take the stamp of the seal, so are the minds of young children to receive the instruction imprinted on them.

Plutarch
What most of all enables a man to serve the public is not wealth, but content and independence; which, requiring no superfluity at home, distracts not the mind from the common good.

Plutarch
The generous mind adds dignity to every act, and nothing misbecomes it.

Plutarch
Poverty is dishonorable, not in itself, but when it is a proof of laziness, intemperance, luxury, and carelessness; whereas in a person that is temperate, industrious, just and valiant, and who uses all his virtues for the public good, it shows a great and lofty mind.

Plutarch