--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The abstractionist and the materialist…" description: "\"The abstractionist and the materialist thus mutually exasperating each other, and the scoffer expressing the worst of materialism, there arises a third..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c28/marsilio-ficino-20663_arise_the-abstractionist-and-the-materialist-t_1020042.png" --- # The abstractionist and the materialist thus mutually… ![“The abstractionist and the materialist thus mutually exasperating each other, and the scoffer expressing the worst of materialism, there arises a third party to occupy the middle ground between these two, the skeptic, namely. He finds both wrong by being in extremes. He labors to plant his feet…” quote by Marsilio Ficino](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c28/marsilio-ficino-20663_arise_the-abstractionist-and-the-materialist-t_1020042.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c28/marsilio-ficino-20663_arise_the-abstractionist-and-the-materialist-t_1020042.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c28/marsilio-ficino-20663_arise_the-abstractionist-and-the-materialist-t_1020042.png) > “The abstractionist and the materialist thus mutually exasperating each other, and the scoffer expressing the worst of materialism, there arises a third party to occupy the middle ground between these two, the skeptic, namely. He finds both wrong by being in extremes. He labors to plant his feet, to be the beam of the balance.” [Marsilio Ficino](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marsilio-ficino/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The materialist and theistist clash, prompting a skeptic to seek a balanced middle path, rejecting both extremes. **In simple terms:** A skeptic tries to balance opposing views. Key Takeaway Seek balance, avoid extremes. Themes philosophy balance skepticism extremes Mood thoughtful reflective Type philosophical analytical inspirational When to use this quote - political debate - ethical decisions - personal belief formation - conflict resolution Key Concepts dialectic moderation critical thinking Questions to Reflect On - How can one maintain conviction while staying balanced? - When does moderation become passivity? A Different Perspective Balancing may lead to indecision or loss of conviction. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Balance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/balance/) [Extremes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/extremes/) [Labor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/labor/) [Materialism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/materialism/) [Materialist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/materialist/) [Middle ground](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/middle-ground/) [Party](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/party/) [Plant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/plant/) [Scoffers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/scoffers/) [Skeptic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/skeptic/) [Third party](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/third-party/) ## Related quotes > [I'm not an abstractionist completely.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cy-twombly/i-m-not-an-abstractionist-completely/) [Cy Twombly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cy-twombly/) > [I'm not an abstractionist. I'm not interested in the relationship of color or form or anything else. I'm interested only in expressing basic human…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-rothko/i-m-not-an-abstractionist-i-m-not-interested-in-the-relationship-of/) [Mark Rothko](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-rothko/) > [“You might as well get one thing straight. I'm not an abstractionist... I'm not interested in the relationships of color or form or anything…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-rothko/you-might-as-well-get-one-thing-straight-i-m-not-an-abstractionist-i/) [Mark Rothko](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-rothko/) > [I'm not an abstractionist... I'm not interested in relationships of colour or form or anything else.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-rothko/i-m-not-an-abstractionist-i-m-not-interested-in-relationships-of/) [Mark Rothko](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-rothko/) > [Modernistic-Abstractionist-Art consists of 75% explanation and 25% God knows what!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maxfield-parrish/modernistic-abstractionist-art-consists-of-75-explanation-and-25-god/) [Maxfield Parrish](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maxfield-parrish/) > [At such times, the heart of man turns instictively towards his Maker. In prosperity, and whenever there is nothing to injure or make him…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/solomon-northup/at-such-times-the-heart-of-man-turns-instictively-towards-his-maker/) [Solomon Northup](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/solomon-northup/) > [The soul is the perceiver and revealer of truth. We know truth when we see it, let skeptic and scoffer say what they choose.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/the-soul-is-the-perceiver-and-revealer-of-truth-we-know-truth-when-we/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [Science is dangerous. There is no question but that poison gas, genetic engineering, and nuclear weapons and power stations are terrifying. It may be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaac-asimov/science-is-dangerous-there-is-no-question-but-that-poison-gas-genetic/) [Isaac Asimov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaac-asimov/) > [Books, of which the principles are diseased or deformed, must be kept on the shelf of the scholar, as the man of science preserves…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-aris-willmott/books-of-which-the-principles-are-diseased-or-deformed-must-be-kept/) [Robert Aris Willmott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-aris-willmott/) > [“What good is praying in public if you as an individual do not follow The Teachings of GOD'S Prophets in The Holy Bible ? Repent !”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/errol-anthony-smythe/what-good-is-praying-in-public-if-you-as-an-individual-do-not-follow/) Errol Anthony Smythe > [Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saint-peter/knowing-this-first-that-there-shall-come-in-the-last-days-scoffers/) [Saint Peter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saint-peter/) > [The tears that you spill, the sorrowful, are sweeter than the laughter of snobs and the guffaws of scoffers.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-tears-that-you-spill-the-sorrowful-are-sweeter-than-the-laughter/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [When we free ourselves from the constraints of ordinary goals and uninformed scoffers we will find ourselves roaring off the face of the earth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-maslow/when-we-free-ourselves-from-the-constraints-of-ordinary-goals-and/) [Abraham Maslow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-maslow/) > [The soul is the perceiver and revealer of truth. We know truth when we see it, let skeptic and scoffer say what they choose…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/the-soul-is-the-perceiver-and-revealer-of-truth-we-know-truth-when-we-2/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/solomon/the-fear-of-the-lord-is-the-beginning-of-wisdom/) [Solomon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/solomon/) ## More by Marsilio Ficino > [Never worry about anything. Live in the present. Live now. Be happy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marsilio-ficino/never-worry-about-anything-live-in-the-present-live-now-be-happy/) [Marsilio Ficino](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marsilio-ficino/) > [ . . . if \[writing\] lift you from your feet with the great voice of eloquence, then the effect is to be wide, slow,… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marsilio-ficino/if-writing-lift-you-from-your-feet-with-the-great-voice-of-eloquence/) [Marsilio Ficino](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marsilio-ficino/) > [Mortal men ask God for good things every day, but they never pray that they may make good use of them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marsilio-ficino/mortal-men-ask-god-for-good-things-every-day-but-they-never-pray-that/) [Marsilio Ficino](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marsilio-ficino/) > [Artists in each of the arts seek after and care for nothing but love.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marsilio-ficino/artists-in-each-of-the-arts-seek-after-and-care-for-nothing-but-love/) [Marsilio Ficino](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marsilio-ficino/) > [You are running to seek your friend. Let your feet run, but your mind need not.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marsilio-ficino/you-are-running-to-seek-your-friend-let-your-feet-run-but-your-mind/) [Marsilio Ficino](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marsilio-ficino/) > [Why do we think love is a magician? Because the whole power of magic consists in love. The work of magic is the attraction…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marsilio-ficino/why-do-we-think-love-is-a-magician-because-the-whole-power-of-magic/) [Marsilio Ficino](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marsilio-ficino/) > [What is odious but . . . people . . . who toast their feet on the register. . . .](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marsilio-ficino/what-is-odious-but-people-who-toast-their-feet-on-the-register/) [Marsilio Ficino](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marsilio-ficino/) > [ \[The imagination\] . . . inspires an audacious mental habit. We are as elastic as the gas of gunpowder, and . . . a… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marsilio-ficino/the-imagination-inspires-an-audacious-mental-habit-we-are-as-elastic/) [Marsilio Ficino](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marsilio-ficino/) > [Everyone believes that he abounds in wisdom, but is short of money.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marsilio-ficino/everyone-believes-that-he-abounds-in-wisdom-but-is-short-of-money/) [Marsilio Ficino](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marsilio-ficino/) > [In these times I don't, in a manner of speaking, know what I want; perhaps I don't want what I know and want what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marsilio-ficino/in-these-times-i-don-t-in-a-manner-of-speaking-know-what-i-want/) [Marsilio Ficino](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marsilio-ficino/) > [Books that distribute things... with as daring a freedom as we use in dreams, put us on our feet again.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marsilio-ficino/books-that-distribute-things-with-as-daring-a-freedom-as-we-use-in/) [Marsilio Ficino](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marsilio-ficino/) > [Wealth begins . . . in giving on all sides by tools and auxiliaries the greatest possible extension to our powers; as if it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marsilio-ficino/wealth-begins-in-giving-on-all-sides-by-tools-and-auxiliaries-the/) [Marsilio Ficino](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marsilio-ficino/) > [“Artist in each of the arts seek after and care for nothing but love.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marsilio-ficino/artist-in-each-of-the-arts-seek-after-and-care-for-nothing-but-love/) [Marsilio Ficino](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marsilio-ficino/) > [He tastes nothing who has not tasted for himself](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marsilio-ficino/he-tastes-nothing-who-has-not-tasted-for-himself/) [Marsilio Ficino](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marsilio-ficino/) > [The doctors of antiquity have affirmed that love is a passion that resembles a melancholy disease. The physician Rasis prescribed, therefore, in order to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marsilio-ficino/the-doctors-of-antiquity-have-affirmed-that-love-is-a-passion-that/) [Marsilio Ficino](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marsilio-ficino/) [Explore all 30 Marsilio Ficino quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marsilio-ficino/) ## More Arise quotes > [I think a new world will arise out of the religious mists when we approach our Bible with the idea that it is not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aiden-wilson-tozer/i-think-a-new-world-will-arise-out-of-the-religious-mists-when-we/) [Aiden Wilson Tozer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aiden-wilson-tozer/) > [The financial crisis we are facing today arises from the fact that there is almost no more social, cultural, natural, and spiritual capital left…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-eisenstein/the-financial-crisis-we-are-facing-today-arises-from-the-fact-that/) [Charles Eisenstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-eisenstein/) > [Let art, then, imitate nature, find what she desires, and follow as she directs. For in invention nature is never last, education never first;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcus-tullius-cicero/let-art-then-imitate-nature-find-what-she-desires-and-follow-as-she/) [Marcus Tullius Cicero](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcus-tullius-cicero/) > [Do not be satisfied with the speech of your lips and the thought in your heart, all the promises and good sayings in your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/menachem-mendel-of-kotzk/do-not-be-satisfied-with-the-speech-of-your-lips-and-the-thought-in/) [Menachem Mendel of Kotzk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/menachem-mendel-of-kotzk/) > [Arise Evans had a fungous nose, and said, it was revealed to him, that the King's hand would cure him, and at the first…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-aubrey/arise-evans-had-a-fungous-nose-and-said-it-was-revealed-to-him-that/) [John Aubrey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-aubrey/) > [Boasting and bravado may exist in the breast even of the coward, if he is successful through a mere lucky hit; but a just…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thucydides/boasting-and-bravado-may-exist-in-the-breast-even-of-the-coward-if-he/) [Thucydides](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thucydides/) > [We need less travelling by jet plaes from congress to congress... but more kneeling and praying and pleading to God to have mercy on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martyn-lloyd-jones/we-need-less-travelling-by-jet-plaes-from-congress-to-congress-but/) [Martyn Lloyd-Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martyn-lloyd-jones/) > [In my model, important interference phenomena arise when individual strata come into contact. These chaotic fluctuations are, I suppose, what my music is really…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-ferneyhough/in-my-model-important-interference-phenomena-arise-when-individual/) [Brian Ferneyhough](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-ferneyhough/) > [Whenever you step out of the noise of thinking, that is meditation, and a different state of consciousness arises.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eckhart-tolle/whenever-you-step-out-of-the-noise-of-thinking-that-is-meditation-and/) [Eckhart Tolle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eckhart-tolle/) > [An idea or institution may arise for one reason and be maintained for quite a different reason.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-mccabe/an-idea-or-institution-may-arise-for-one-reason-and-be-maintained-for/) [Joseph McCabe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-mccabe/) > [The oppressed without hope are mysteriously quiet. When the conception of change is beyond the limits of the possible, there are no words to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sheila-rowbotham/the-oppressed-without-hope-are-mysteriously-quiet-when-the-conception/) [Sheila Rowbotham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sheila-rowbotham/) > [I arise full of eagerness and energy, knowing well what achievement lies ahead of me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zane-grey/i-arise-full-of-eagerness-and-energy-knowing-well-what-achievement/) [Zane Grey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zane-grey/) > [When you train your thoughts to dissolve as they arise, they will cross your mind like a bird crosses the sky--without leaving a trace.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julietta-suzuki/when-you-train-your-thoughts-to-dissolve-as-they-arise-they-will/) Julietta Suzuki > [Nothing, not even the best and noblest, can go on as it now is. Nothing, not even what is lowest and most bestial, will…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/nothing-not-even-the-best-and-noblest-can-go-on-as-it-now-is-nothing/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [So we and our elaborately evolving computers may meet each other halfway. Someday a human being, named perhaps Fred White, may shoot a robot…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-k-dick/so-we-and-our-elaborately-evolving-computers-may-meet-each-other/) [Philip K. Dick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-k-dick/) Browse all 1,703 Arise quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The abstractionist and the materialist thus mutually exasperating each other, and the scoffer expressing the worst of materialism, there arises a third party to occupy the middle ground between these two, the skeptic, namely. He finds both wrong by being in extremes. 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