The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled.
Silence at the proper season is wisdom, and better than any speech.
- Topic: Communication, Listening, Speech
- Photo: Jeffrey Benjamin
More Quotes from Plutarch
What we achieve inwardly will change outer reality.
We ought not to let either our joy at their faults or our grief at their success be idle, but in either case we ought to reflect, how we may become better than them by avoiding their errors, and by imitating their virtues not come short of them.
Perseverance is more prevailing than violence; and many things which cannot be overcome when they are together, yield themselves up when taken little by little.
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Between what is said and not meant, and what is meant and not said, most of love is lost.
I was in darkness, but I took three steps and found myself in paradise. The first step was a good thought, the second, a good word; and the third, a good deed.
Silence is one of the great arts of conversation.
Anybody can become angry—that is easy, but to be angry with the right person and to the right degree and at the right time and for the right purpose, and in the right way—that is not within everybody’s power and is not easy.
No problem is so deep that it cannot be overcome, given the will of all parties, through discussion and negotiation rather than force and violence.
Fear not those who argue but those who dodge.
A leader who does not take advice is not a leader.
Listen with ears of tolerance, see through the eyes of compassion, speak with language of love.
Listening is a magnetic and strong thing, a creative force. The friends who listen to us are the ones we move toward. When we are listened to, it creates us, makes us unfold and expand.
We still have a choice today: nonviolent coexistence or violent coannihilation. This may well be mankind's last chance between chaos and community.
The world would be happier if men had the same capacity to be silent that they have to speak.
Fear of serious injury cannot alone justify suppression of free speech and assembly. Men feared witches and burned women. It is the function of speech to free men from the bondage of irrational fears.
We know how to speak many falsehoods which resemble real things, but we know, when we will, how to speak true things.
Think lovingly, speak lovingly, act lovingly, and every need shall be supplied.
Truly, to tell lies is not honorable; but when the truth entails tremendous ruin, to speak dishonorably is pardonable.
Understanding a question is half an answer.
Since men are neither omniscient nor infallible, they must be free to agree or disagree, to cooperate or to pursue their own independent course, each according to his own rational judgment. Freedom is the fundamental requirement of man's mind.
He’s a wonderful talker, who has the art of telling you nothing in a great harangue.
Man's tongue is soft, and bone doth lack; yet a stroke therewith may break a man's back.
Some people’s idea of free speech is that they are free to say what they like, but if anyone says anything back, that is an outrage.
