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Hi Companions ---At work (as we are working towards new educational concepts) someone came across this quote which is believed to have come from Plutarch:"Proper education and teaching is to light a fire, not to fill a bucket."I am 100% this is not in the Live of Alexander, nor in any other of Plutarch's works I know. So my questions are: Is this this really a quote from Plutarch? If yes, from which work?Your replies will be very much appreciated.Thanks!Nick(Even if it is not Plutarch, I thought it was a nice quote anyway.)

The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled. That's the actual quote - what you have is a modern rewrite apprently credited to someone named Dan Snow. Not sure what work of Plutarch it comes from.

Ah, but fires are dangerous and buckets can be measured.Halil

I don't know where you can find that exact quote of Plutarch's, but he did love to repeat himself and there is a similar one in the Moralia, Volume I. 48 C. "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."

You all might find this on-line source of certain of his essays and 'miscellanies' quite interesting:http://www.blackmask.com/books31c/plutadex.htmCheers.

I can't tree it in the TLG, which should be all of
Greek literature. I tried various words that might
fit, but it's hard to know how it was expressed.Maybe it's like that Alexander quote about faith,
hope and charitiy---completely bogus.

Thanks, Tre, just what we needed.Regards ---Nick

Hi Halil ---Indeed, that is just why this quote is so interesting. As a university lecturer I experience everyday that *some* university teachers and lecturers don't want to light fires, just fill buckets. There is also a nice essay in the book "Tree of Origin", which examines education from a biological (!) viewpoint. It argues that many teachers will do their very best to prevent their students from surpassing them or acquiring so much knowledge that they'll become dangerous (to the teacher's position). (Isn't their even a parallel in Aristotle becoming one of Alexander's *enemies* later in life?)Regards ---Nick

Very many thanks, Linda, also a cute one!Dankjewel!Nick