Plotinus Quotes

In this state of absorbed contemplation, there is no longer any question of holding an object in view; the vision is such that seeing and seen are one; object and act of vision have become identical.

God is not external to anyone, but is present with all things, though they are ignorant that He is so.

Fear must be entirely banished. The purified soul will fear nothing.

Before we had our becoming here, we existed There, men other than now; we were pure souls. Intelligence inbound with the entire of reality, not fenced off, integral to that All. […] Then it was as if One voice sounded. One word was uttered and from every side an ear attended and received and there was an effective hearing; now we are become a dual thing, no longer that which we were at first, dormant, and in a sense no longer present.

If someone with the right conduct tries to attain to something that lies outside of it, is his goal not the right conduct.

The Soul of each one of us is sent, that the universe may be complete.

It is precisely because there is nothing within the One that all things are from it.

It is in virtue of unity that beings are beings.

Being is desirable because it is identical with Beauty, and Beauty is loved because it is Being.

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, 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.

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. If a man could but be turned about, he would see at once God and himself and the All.

Nature is but an image of wisdom, the last thing of the soul; nature being a thing which doth only do, but not know.