“Withdraw into yourself and look. And if you do not find yourself beautiful yet, act as does the creator of a statue that is to be made beautiful: he cuts away here, he smoothes there, he makes this line lighter, this other purer. … Cut away all that is excessive, straighten all that is crooked, bring light to all that is overcast, labor to make all one glow or beauty and never cease chiseling your statue, until there shall shine out on you from it the godlike splendor of virtue.”

— Plotinus

First Ennead, Sixth Tractate, Section 9
The First Ennead (c. 250)

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Plotinus 15

Neoplatonist philosopher 203–270

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