Never did eye see the sun unless it had first become sun-like, and never can the soul have vision of the First Beauty unless itself be beautiful.
PLOTINUSNow we are become a dual thing, no longer that which we were at first, dormant, and in a sense no longer present.
More Plotinus Quotes
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God is not external to anyone, but is present with all things, though they are ignorant that He is so.
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One principle must make the universe a single complex living creature, one from all.
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When we look outside of that on which we depend we ignore our unity; looking outward we see many faces; look inward and all is one head.
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One word was uttered and from every side an ear attended and received and there was an effective hearing.
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Being is desirable because it is identical with Beauty, and Beauty is loved because it is Being.
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Each one of us is part of the soul of the universe
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There is one and the same soul in many bodies.
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A dogma recognized throughout antiquity… (that) the soul expiates its sins in the darkness of the infernal regions and… afterwards… passes into new bodies, there to undergo new trials.
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Knowledge has three degrees–opinion, science, illumination.
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We must close our eyes and invoke a new manner of seeing…a wakefulness that is the birthright of us all, though few put it to use.
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In actions, in character, in the pursuits of the intellect; and there is the beauty of the virtues.
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If a man could but be turned about, he would see at once God and himself and the All.
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Life here with the things of the earth is a sinking, a defeat, a failing of the wing.
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The stars are like letters that inscribe themselves at every moment in the sky.
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As the eye waits on the rising of the Sun which in its own time appears above the horizon and gives itself to our sight.
PLOTINUS