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.
PLOTINUSWhy should I consent to the perpetuation of the image of this image?
More Plotinus Quotes
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Nature is but an image of wisdom, the last thing of the soul; nature being a thing which doth only do, but not know.
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Until there shall shine out on you from it the godlike splendour of virtue, until you shall see the perfect goodness surely established in the stainless shrine.
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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.
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Withdraw into yourself and look.
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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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You can only apprehend the Infinite by a faculty that is superior to reason.
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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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Knowledge has three degrees–opinion, science, illumination.
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As in certain combinations so words and in all kinds of music; for melodies and cadences are beautiful; and minds that lift themselves above the realm of sense to a higher order are aware of beauty in the conduct of life.
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We ourselves possess Beauty when we are true to our own being; ugliness is in going over to another order.
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Knowing demands the organ fitted to the object.
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The sculptor cuts away here, smoothes there, makes this line lighter, this other purer, until he or she has shown a beautiful face upon the statue.
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Cut away all that is excessive, straighten all that is crooked, bring light to all that is overcast, labour to make all one glow of beauty and never cease chiselling your statue.
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One principle must make the universe a single complex living creature, one from all.
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Withdraw into yourself and look. And if you do not find yourself beautiful as yet, do as the creator of a statue that is to be made beautiful.
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