Daily Inspiration Quote by Plutarch

A clean bit of classical jujitsu: Plutarch grants the ideal (wise men should get things right) only to undercut the impulse to weaponize that ideal against everyone else. The line pivots on a carefully balanced concession. “To err in opinion” sounds like a moral failure in miniature, the kind of mistake that in public life gets treated as evidence of corruption or stupidity. Plutarch narrows it: not a crime, not even a vice, just an error of judgment. Then he widens it: it’s “at least human.” That “at least” matters. It’s both consolation and rebuke, insisting that fallibility isn’t an embarrassing exception but the baseline condition.

The intent is less permissive than it first appears. Plutarch isn’t excusing sloppy thinking; he’s disarming the cruelty of perfectionism. By separating wisdom from humanity, he sketches a realistic ladder of aspiration: wisdom is a discipline, humanity is the given. The subtext takes aim at the social theater of certainty. People cling to opinions as status signals; admitting error risks humiliation. Plutarch offers a cultural permission slip to revise yourself without self-erasure.

Contextually, this sits comfortably in the moralist tradition Plutarch helped define: ethical self-correction through character, not through punitive shame. In a civic world built on rhetoric, reputation, and faction, “error” could be fatal currency. His line argues for a softer, sturdier ethics: accountability without annihilation. If even the wise can’t guarantee infallibility, then the decent response to wrong opinions is not scorn but patience, persuasion, and the quiet expectation that minds can change.