--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: In this same tradition, beauty is…" description: "\"In this same tradition, beauty is inextricably bound up with the principles of order and harmony believed to underlie the cosmos. Artists in the Classi..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/601/john-walford-30124_absolutes_in-this-same-tradition-beauty-is-inextri_745049.jpg" --- # In this same tradition, beauty is inextricably bound up… ![“In this same tradition, beauty is inextricably bound up with the principles of order and harmony believed to underlie the cosmos. Artists in the Classical tradition, inspired by Platonic idealism, strove to create images that represented not the world of particulars-with all its defects-but an…” quote by John Walford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/601/john-walford-30124_absolutes_in-this-same-tradition-beauty-is-inextri_745049.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/601/john-walford-30124_absolutes_in-this-same-tradition-beauty-is-inextri_745049.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/601/john-walford-30124_absolutes_in-this-same-tradition-beauty-is-inextri_745049.jpg) > “In this same tradition, beauty is inextricably bound up with the principles of order and harmony believed to underlie the cosmos. Artists in the Classical tradition, inspired by Platonic idealism, strove to create images that represented not the world of particulars-with all its defects-but an ideal image conceived in the mind, which was taken as representing some absolute, pure, ideal form of which all particular, material forms are but a mere shadow.” [John Walford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-walford/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Describes how classical artists pursued ideal forms, believing true beauty lies in harmonious, ordered representations rather than imperfect reality. **In simple terms:** Classical art seeks ideal beauty. Key Takeaway Aim for harmony and order in creative work. Themes beauty order harmony idealism Mood analytical philosophical Type theoretical inspirational When to use this quote - architecture - painting - sculpture - design projects Key Concepts Platonic idealism aesthetics Questions to Reflect On - Can art balance idealism with realism? - What does harmony mean in your work? A Different Perspective Ideal forms may be unattainable, limiting expressive freedom. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Absolutes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/absolutes/) [Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) [Artist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/artist/) [Beauty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/beauty/) [Bounds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bounds/) [Classical Tradition](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/classical-tradition-3392069/) [Cosmos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cosmos/) [Defects](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/defects/) [Form](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/form/) [Harmony](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/harmony/) [Ideal Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ideal-image-1316059/) [Idealism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/idealism/) [Ideals](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ideals/) [Inspired](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inspired/) [Materials](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/materials/) [Mere](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mere/) [Mind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mind/) [Order](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/order/) [Particular](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/particular/) [Peace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/peace/) [Platonic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/platonic/) [Platonic Idealism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/platonic-idealism-5808804/) [Principles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/principles/) [Pure](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pure/) [Representing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/representing/) [Shadow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/shadow/) [Taken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/taken/) [Tradition](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tradition/) [Tradition Beauty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tradition-beauty-5808805/) [Tradition Inspired](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tradition-inspired-5808806/) [World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world/) ## Related quotes > [In the Classical tradition, deriving from ancient Greece and Rome, beauty was perceived as the means by which the artist captured the viewer's eye…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-walford/in-the-classical-tradition-deriving-from-ancient-greece-and-rome/) [John Walford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-walford/) > [All of my knowledge, of both science and religion, I incorporate into the classical tradition of my painting.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salvador-dali/all-of-my-knowledge-of-both-science-and-religion-i-incorporate-into/) [Salvador Dali](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salvador-dali/) > [I would like my work to be recognized as being in the classical tradition (Coptic, Egyptian, Greek, Chinese), as representing the Ideal in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/agnes-martin/i-would-like-my-work-to-be-recognized-as-being-in-the-classical/) [Agnes Martin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/agnes-martin/) > [I belong rather to a more classical tradition of social analysis.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/i-belong-rather-to-a-more-classical-tradition-of-social-analysis/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [“I wanted to see you again, touch you, know who you were, see if I would find you identical with the ideal image of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/i-wanted-to-see-you-again-touch-you-know-who-you-were-see-if-i-would-2/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [The archetype of all humans, their ideal image, is the computer, once it has liberated itself from its creator, man. The computeris the essence…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-d-rrenmatt/the-archetype-of-all-humans-their-ideal-image-is-the-computer-once-it/) [Friedrich Durrenmatt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-d-rrenmatt/) > [I believe that true beauty comes from inside you and that always shows through. I have no problem with whatever the next look is,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alek-wek/i-believe-that-true-beauty-comes-from-inside-you-and-that-always/) [Alek Wek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alek-wek/) > [I wanted to see you again, touch you, know who you were, see if I would find you identical with the ideal image of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/i-wanted-to-see-you-again-touch-you-know-who-you-were-see-if-i-would/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [What can I do to become more like my Ideal Image?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bucky-sinister/what-can-i-do-to-become-more-like-my-ideal-image/) [Bucky Sinister](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bucky-sinister/) > [Begbie offers an additional valuable contribution by rejecting the traditional emphasis on beauty, in its Platonic sense, and instead suggesting that beauty be reconceived…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-walford/begbie-offers-an-additional-valuable-contribution-by-rejecting-the/) [John Walford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-walford/) > [All civilization in a sense exists only in the mind. Gunpowder, textile arts, machinery, laws, telephones are not themselves transmitted from man to man…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-l-kroeber/all-civilization-in-a-sense-exists-only-in-the-mind-gunpowder-textile/) [Alfred L. Kroeber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-l-kroeber/) > [One can hardly appreciate how academia has perverted its highest tasks and "ideals" without pondering long and hard the implications of Jacques Barzun's House…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenny-smith/one-can-hardly-appreciate-how-academia-has-perverted-its-highest/) [Kenny Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenny-smith/) > [People instantly assume you can't have a platonic friendship with someone of the opposite sex. I think this may be specific to L.A.—or America.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabel-lucas/people-instantly-assume-you-can-t-have-a-platonic-friendship-with/) [Isabel Lucas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-lucas/) > [I believe there's a platonic ideal for every book that is written, like there's the perfect version of the book somewhere in the ether,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sheila-heti/i-believe-there-s-a-platonic-ideal-for-every-book-that-is-written/) [Sheila Heti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sheila-heti/) > [I can't even find someone for a platonic relationship, much less the kind where someone wants to see me naked.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-gottfried/i-can-t-even-find-someone-for-a-platonic-relationship-much-less-the/) [Gilbert Gottfried](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-gottfried/) ## More by John Walford > [Begbie offers an additional valuable contribution by rejecting the traditional emphasis on beauty, in its Platonic sense, and instead suggesting that beauty be reconceived…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-walford/begbie-offers-an-additional-valuable-contribution-by-rejecting-the/) [John Walford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-walford/) > [Beyond the pervasive disinterest in the visual arts among the Protestant community, the core problem lies in the fact that the art world rejects…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-walford/beyond-the-pervasive-disinterest-in-the-visual-arts-among-the/) [John Walford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-walford/) > [As far as stimulus from the visual arts specifically, there is today in most of us a visual appetite that is hungry, that is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-walford/as-far-as-stimulus-from-the-visual-arts-specifically-there-is-today/) [John Walford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-walford/) > [Advertizing, television and film all wield mighty powers to visually seduce us, while much fine art leaves us indifferent, confused or, at worst, repulsed.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-walford/advertizing-television-and-film-all-wield-mighty-powers-to-visually/) [John Walford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-walford/) > [Beauty, therefore, for the modern and postmodern artist has become a highly dubious metaphor for a discredited belief system.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-walford/beauty-therefore-for-the-modern-and-postmodern-artist-has-become-a/) [John Walford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-walford/) > [Narcissism and Christianity have little in common, yet the Romantic paradigm of artistic creativity, particularly in light of subsequent Freudian ideas, has tended to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-walford/narcissism-and-christianity-have-little-in-common-yet-the-romantic/) [John Walford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-walford/) > [Postmodernism has not overcome the problems of modernism, but only compounded them with a dosis of cynicism, relativism and indifference.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-walford/postmodernism-has-not-overcome-the-problems-of-modernism-but-only/) [John Walford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-walford/) > [Beyond a narrow, elite audience, there is a pervasive sense from the side of the public that much contemporary art fails to connect -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-walford/beyond-a-narrow-elite-audience-there-is-a-pervasive-sense-from-the/) [John Walford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-walford/) > [Who is one's audience, the spiritually hostile professional art world or one's visually insensitive Christian neighbour?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-walford/who-is-one-s-audience-the-spiritually-hostile-professional-art-world/) [John Walford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-walford/) > [Redemption in Christ should give the artistically gifted not only a new orientation and a new sense of purpose, but also a new vision…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-walford/redemption-in-christ-should-give-the-artistically-gifted-not-only-a/) [John Walford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-walford/) > [In as much as Christ's mission was to bring all things into submission to God, and to restore not only humanity, but also the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-walford/in-as-much-as-christ-s-mission-was-to-bring-all-things-into/) [John Walford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-walford/) > [Put crudely, one is left with a choice between two unsatisfactory combinations: artistic integrity married to spiritual compromise; and spiritual integrity married to artistic…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-walford/put-crudely-one-is-left-with-a-choice-between-two-unsatisfactory/) [John Walford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-walford/) > [The cumulative effect of the Romantic theory of creativity, as played out in the context of belief in the virtue of the avant-garde, is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-walford/the-cumulative-effect-of-the-romantic-theory-of-creativity-as-played/) [John Walford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-walford/) > [Christ, as the ultimate Imago Dei is alluded to in scripture as being without external beauty in the Classical sense, and should better be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-walford/christ-as-the-ultimate-imago-dei-is-alluded-to-in-scripture-as-being/) [John Walford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-walford/) > [It would be a serious oversight to limit our understanding of the impact of theology to strictly religious art, and overlook its pervasive role…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-walford/it-would-be-a-serious-oversight-to-limit-our-understanding-of-the/) [John Walford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-walford/) [Explore all 17 John Walford quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-walford/) ## More Absolutes quotes > [At the centre of the human heart is the longing for an absolute good, a longing which is always there and is never appeased…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-weil/at-the-centre-of-the-human-heart-is-the-longing-for-an-absolute-good/) [Simone Weil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-weil/) > [There is no perfect justice, just as there is no absolute in ethics. But there is perfect injustice, and we know it when we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-dershowitz/there-is-no-perfect-justice-just-as-there-is-no-absolute-in-ethics/) [Alan Dershowitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-dershowitz/) > [If you live in a material universe where acquiring things is very important to you, then family is an absolute deterrent to maintaining that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-taylor-gatto/if-you-live-in-a-material-universe-where-acquiring-things-is-very/) [John Taylor Gatto](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-taylor-gatto/) > [ Their \[the U.S.’s\] defense budget in absolute figures is almost 25 times bigger than Russia’s. This is what in defense is referred to as… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vladimir-putin/their-the-u-s-s-defense-budget-in-absolute-figures-is-almost-25-times/) [Vladimir Putin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vladimir-putin/) > [This separation was absolute in our original Republic. But the sky-godders do not give up easily. In the 1950s they actually got the phrase…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gore-vidal/this-separation-was-absolute-in-our-original-republic-but-the-sky/) [Gore Vidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gore-vidal/) > [Conservative political opinion in America cleaves to the tradition of the judge as passive interpreter, believing that his absolute loyalty to authoritative law is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/learned-hand/conservative-political-opinion-in-america-cleaves-to-the-tradition-of/) [Learned Hand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/learned-hand/) > [So many times we come to Jesus in worship and ask Him for things that He already IS and has already done... What a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christy-nockels/so-many-times-we-come-to-jesus-in-worship-and-ask-him-for-things-that/) [Christy Nockels](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christy-nockels/) > [Those are decisions only the Lord will make. I believe the love of God is absolute. He said he gave his son for the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/billy-graham/those-are-decisions-only-the-lord-will-make-i-believe-the-love-of-god/) [Billy Graham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/billy-graham/) > [“The Gods know what it is to be eternal, and they love to toy with mortals who use absolutes.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/josephine-angelini/the-gods-know-what-it-is-to-be-eternal-and-they-love-to-toy-with/) [Josephine Angelini](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/josephine-angelini/) > [Anarchy is the stepping stone to absolute power.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/napoleon-bonaparte/anarchy-is-the-stepping-stone-to-absolute-power/) [Napoleon Bonaparte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/napoleon-bonaparte/) > [I was asked the other day if I would be interested in the Nobel Prize, but I think that for me it would be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gabriel-garc-a-m-rquez/i-was-asked-the-other-day-if-i-would-be-interested-in-the-nobel-prize/) [Gabriel Garcia Marquez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gabriel-garc-a-m-rquez/) > [The only "definitive truth" for Buddhism is the absolute negation of any one truth as the Definitive Truth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dalai-lama/the-only-definitive-truth-for-buddhism-is-the-absolute-negation-of/) [Dalai Lama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dalai-lama/) > [The nature of the Absolute is neither perceptible nor imperceptible; and with phenomena it is just the same. But to one who has discovered…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/huangbo-xiyun/the-nature-of-the-absolute-is-neither-perceptible-nor-imperceptible/) [Huangbo Xiyun](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/huangbo-xiyun/) > [Joining a company is an act that calls for absolute loyalty in big matters and little ones.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-watson/joining-a-company-is-an-act-that-calls-for-absolute-loyalty-in-big/) [Thomas Watson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-watson/) > [In fine, a life of good or evil, the hope of Heaven or the despair of Hell, Faustus stands as a reminder that the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/in-fine-a-life-of-good-or-evil-the-hope-of-heaven-or-the-despair-of/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) [Browse all 2,016 Absolutes quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/absolutes/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "In this same tradition, beauty is inextricably bound up with the principles of order and harmony believed to underlie the cosmos. 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