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.
PLOTINUSWe 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.
More Plotinus Quotes
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Why should I consent to the perpetuation of the image of this image?
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The soul in its nature loves God and longs to be at one with Him in the noble love of a daughter for a noble father.
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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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Knowledge has three degrees–opinion, science, illumination.
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Everything in the world is full of signs. All events are coordinated. All things depend on each other. Everything breathes together.
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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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Knowledge, if it does not determine action, is dead to us.
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All things are filled full of signs, and it is a wise man who can learn about one thing from another.
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We may treat of the Soul as in the body – whether it be set above it or actually within it – since the association of the two constitutes the one thing called the living organism, the Animate.Now from this relation.
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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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Wherever it lies, under earth or over earth, the body will always rot.
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Before we had our becoming here, we existed There, men other than now; we were pure souls.
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Mankind is poised midway between the gods and the beasts.
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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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Pleasure and distress, fear and courage, desire and aversion, where have these affections and experiences their seat?
PLOTINUS