Plutarch Mind Quotations

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

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.

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

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.

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.

Anger turns the mind out of doors and bolts the entrance.

If you hate your enemies, you will contract such a vicious habit of mind that it will break out upon those who are your friends, or those who are indifferent to you.

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.

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.

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

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

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.