“The likeness of man above the throne is divided, the upper part being the colour of chashmal, the lower part like the appearance of fire. As regards the word chashmal, it has been explained to be the compound of two words chas and mal, including two different notions, viz., chash signifying "swiftness," and mal denoting "pause." The two different notions are here joined in one word in order to indicate figuratively the two different parts,—the upper part and the lower. We have already given a second explanation, namely, that chashmal includes the two notions of speach and silence; in accordance with the saying of our Sages, "At times they are silent, at times they speak."”

Source: Guide for the Perplexed (c. 1190), Part III, Ch.7

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "The likeness of man above the throne is divided, the upper part being the colour of chashmal, the lower part like the a…" by Maimónides?
Maimónides photo
Maimónides 180
rabbi, physician, philosopher 1138–1204

Related quotes

Michel Bréal photo
Jöns Jacob Berzelius photo
Arthur Schopenhauer photo

“Just as the witticism brings two very different real objects under one concept, the pun brings two different concepts, by the assistance of accident, under one word.”

Volume I, Book I http://books.google.com/books?id=US0bhPS4h2UC&pg=PA79
The World as Will and Representation (1819; 1844; 1859)

James Jeans photo
Otto Weininger photo

“No two moments in the life of an individual are exactly alike; there is between the later and the earlier periods only the similarity of the higher and lower parts of a spiral ascent.”

Es gibt nicht zwei Momente des individuellen Lebens, die einander ganz gleichen; und es existiert zwischen den späteren und den früheren Perioden nur die Ähnlichkeit der Punkte der höheren mit den homologen der niederen Spiralwindung.
Source: Sex and Character (1903), p. 107.

Theo van Doesburg photo
Aristotle photo

Related topics