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One principle must make the universe a single complex living creature, one from all. — Plotinus

Philosophical literature

One principle must make the universe a single complex living creature, one from all.

In the original Greek

Μένει δ᾽ ἀεὶ ὀρθουμένου τοῦ ὅλου τάξει καὶ δυνάμει τοῦ κρατοῦντος· συνεργοῦντα δὲ καὶ τὰ ἄστρα ὡς ἂν μόρια οὐ σμικρὰ ὄντα τοῦ οὐρανοῦ πρὸς τὸ ὅλον ἀριπρεπῆ καὶ πρὸς τὸ σημαίνειν ἐστί

Plotinus
Enneads · 270
★ 2.1
Other tags relating to this quote
Topic
MonismThe universe
Genre
Philosophical literature
Time
270Classical antiquity
Person
Plotinus
Provenance
Current citation
Plotinus. The Enneads, edited by Lloyd P. Gerson, translated by George Boys-Stones, et. al. Cambridge University Press, 2018, bk. 2, treatise 3.
Original citation
Plotinus. The Six Enneads. c. 270, bk. 2, treatise 3.

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The time will come when this universe and nature herself will be no more. And just as of very great human kingdoms and empires and of their marvelous exploits, which were so very famous in other ages, there remains no sign of fame whatsoever, so too of the entire world, and of the infinite vicissitudes and calamities of all created things, no single trace will remain, but a naked silence and a most profound quiet will fill the immensity of space. Thus, this stupendous and frightening mystery of universal existence, before it can be declared or understood, will vanish and be lost.

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