I would rather excel in the knowledge of what is excellent, than in the extent of my power and possessions.

Plutarch’s sentiment contrasts moral and intellectual excellence with external success. The speaker prefers to be outstanding in discerning and understanding “what is excellent” (virtue, the good, the noble) rather than outstanding in sheer power, wealth, or possessions. In Plutarch’s broadly Platonic and ethical outlook, the highest human achievement is the cultivation of character and judgment—knowing what is truly worth valuing—because power and property are unstable and can be used badly without virtue. The line thus functions as a critique of status and domination, and as an endorsement of education and moral formation as the proper measure of greatness.