Marsilio Ficino Quotes
Marsilio Ficino was an Italian Renaissance philosopher, priest, and physician at the court of the Medici in Florence. He produced the first complete Latin translation of the dialogues of Plato and of the Enneads of Plotinus, decisively reintroducing Platonism to the Western tradition. The quotes below are attributed to Marsilio Ficino, organized by topic.
Browse Marsilio Ficino by topic
Marsilio Ficino on God
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“The people who have discovered something important in any of the more noble arts have principally done so when they have abandoned the body and taken refuge in the citadel of the soul.”
Platonic Theology , Book 13, Chapter 2 -
“The inquiry of the intellect never ceases until it finds that cause of which nothing is the cause but which is itself the cause of causes. This cause is none other than the boundless God. Similarly, the desire of the will is not satisfied by any good, as long as we believe that there is yet another beyond it. Therefore, the will is satisfied only by that one good beyond which there is no further good. What can this good be except the boundless God?”
p. 201 -
“The rational soul in a certain manner possesses the excellence of infinity and eternity. If this were not the case, it would never characteristically incline toward the infinite. Undoubtedly this is the reason that there are none among men who live contentedly on earth and are satisfied with merely temporal possessions.”
p. 202
Marsilio Ficino on Knowledge
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“Platonic Theology , Book 13, Chapter 2”
The people who have discovered something important in any of the more noble arts have principally done so when they have abandoned the body and taken refuge in the citadel of the soul.
Marsilio Ficino on Love
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Attributed to Marsilio Ficino:
“Love is the desire of beauty.”
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Attributed to Marsilio Ficino:
“We become what we love.”
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Attributed to Marsilio Ficino:
“There is nothing in the world more beautiful than friendship.”
Marsilio Ficino on Mind
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Attributed to Marsilio Ficino:
“The soul is partly in eternity and partly in time.”
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Attributed to Marsilio Ficino:
“Mortal things wear out with time, but the soul, since it is divine, lives forever.”
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“The intellect is prompted by nature to comprehend the whole breadth of being. ... Under the concept of truth it knows all, and under the concept of the good it desires all.”
p. 199 -
“When the object of sense is very violent, it injures sense at once, so that sense, after its occurrence, cannot immediately discern its weaker objects. Thus extreme brightness offends the eye, and a very loud noise offends the ears. Mind, however, is otherwise; by its most excellent object it is neither injured nor ever confused. Nay, rather, after this object is known, it distinguishes inferior things at once more clearly and more truly.”
p. 205