--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Time is to eternity as an image is to its…" description: "\"Time is to eternity as an image is to its exemplar, and those things which are temporal bear a resemblance to those things which are eternal.\" — Nichol..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0ec/nicholas-of-cusa-14312_bears_time-is-to-eternity-as-an-image-is-to-it_1460398.png" --- # Time is to eternity as an image is to its exemplar, and… ![“Time is to eternity as an image is to its exemplar, and those things which are temporal bear a resemblance to those things which are eternal.” quote by Nicholas of Cusa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0ec/nicholas-of-cusa-14312_bears_time-is-to-eternity-as-an-image-is-to-it_1460398.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0ec/nicholas-of-cusa-14312_bears_time-is-to-eternity-as-an-image-is-to-it_1460398.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0ec/nicholas-of-cusa-14312_bears_time-is-to-eternity-as-an-image-is-to-it_1460398.png) > “Time is to eternity as an image is to its exemplar, and those things which are temporal bear a resemblance to those things which are eternal.” [Nicholas of Cusa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-of-cusa/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Temporal things reflect eternal truths, showing a parallel between fleeting images and their perfect forms. **In simple terms:** Temporary mirrors eternal. Key Takeaway Seek deeper patterns beyond appearances. Themes philosophy metaphysics eternity Mood contemplative inquisitive Type philosophical reflective When to use this quote - art criticism - scientific modeling - spiritual contemplation Key Concepts Platonism analogy time Questions to Reflect On - What fleeting experience reveals a lasting principle? - How do we discern true forms? A Different Perspective Eternal concepts may be unknowable. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Bears](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bears/) [Eternal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/eternal/) [Eternity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/eternity/) [Eternity Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/eternity-image-3316674/) [Resemblance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/resemblance/) [Things Eternal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/things-eternal-1526706/) [Things Temporal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/things-temporal-5274622/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) [Time Eternity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time-eternity/) ## Related quotes > [I go through life as a transient on his way to eternity, made in the image of God but with that image debased, needing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-go-through-life-as-a-transient-on-his-way-to-eternity-made-in-the/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Therefore, in the Beginning, which is Truth, all things are Eternal Truth itself](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-of-cusa/therefore-in-the-beginning-which-is-truth-all-things-are-eternal/) [Nicholas of Cusa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-of-cusa/) > [“We may have given to us, in this life, a few things that will give us satisfaction, temporally; but the things that are eternal,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-albert-smith/we-may-have-given-to-us-in-this-life-a-few-things-that-will-give-us/) [George Albert Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-albert-smith/) > [What we know is not capable of being otherwise; of things capable of being otherwise we do not know, when they have passed outsideour…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/what-we-know-is-not-capable-of-being-otherwise-of-things-capable-of/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) > [To be always relevant, you have to say things which are eternal.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-weil/to-be-always-relevant-you-have-to-say-things-which-are-eternal/) [Simone Weil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-weil/) > [“Material things may satisfy your temporal desires, but none can be taken with you when you're gone. Build your hopes on things eternal !”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amaka-imani-nkosazana/material-things-may-satisfy-your-temporal-desires-but-none-can-be/) [Amaka Imani Nkosazana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amaka-imani-nkosazana/) > [As all things eternal and primordial reappear, so all things mortal return to the earth. Honor, old age, probity, justice, constance, virtue, and gentleness…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francis-quarles/as-all-things-eternal-and-primordial-reappear-so-all-things-mortal/) [Francis Quarles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francis-quarles/) > [The little things are what is eternal, and the rest, all the rest, is brevity, extreme brevity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/antonio-porchia/the-little-things-are-what-is-eternal-and-the-rest-all-the-rest-is/) [Antonio Porchia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/antonio-porchia/) > [Before me things created were none, save things Eternal, and eternal I endure. All hope abandon, ye who enter here.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dante-alighieri/before-me-things-created-were-none-save-things-eternal-and-eternal-i/) [Dante Alighieri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dante-alighieri/) > [“when the heart of a man has nothing to do, but to be busy about creature-comforts, every little thing troubles him; but when the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeremiah-burroughs/when-the-heart-of-a-man-has-nothing-to-do-but-to-be-busy-about/) [Jeremiah Burroughs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeremiah-burroughs/) > [“I speak in a poem of the ancient food of heroes: humiliation, unhappiness, discord. Those things are given to us to transform, so that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jorge-luis-borges/i-speak-in-a-poem-of-the-ancient-food-of-heroes-humiliation/) [Jorge Luis Borges](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jorge-luis-borges/) > [There are two things eternal. Human stupidity and the universe. And I'm not even sure about the universe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-einstein/there-are-two-things-eternal-human-stupidity-and-the-universe-and-i-m/) [Albert Einstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-einstein/) > [In so far as the mind sees things in their eternal aspect, it participates in eternity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/in-so-far-as-the-mind-sees-things-in-their-eternal-aspect-it/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Young children give us glimpses of some things that are eternal.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-kozol/young-children-give-us-glimpses-of-some-things-that-are-eternal/) [Jonathan Kozol](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-kozol/) > [If I have a system it is limited to a recognition of what Kierkegaard called 'the infinite qualitative distinction' between time and eternity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-barth/if-i-have-a-system-it-is-limited-to-a-recognition-of-what-kierkegaard/) [Karl Barth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-barth/) ## More by Nicholas of Cusa > [God says to man: 'Be thou thyself, and I shall be thine.'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-of-cusa/god-says-to-man-be-thou-thyself-and-i-shall-be-thine/) [Nicholas of Cusa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-of-cusa/) > [All visible things would not claim as their king some color of their region, which is actually among the visible things of this region,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-of-cusa/all-visible-things-would-not-claim-as-their-king-some-color-of-their/) [Nicholas of Cusa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-of-cusa/) > [There are not many beginnings but there is a single Beginning, prior to multitude. 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And the more it goes out…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-of-cusa/within-itself-the-soul-sees-all-things-more-truly-than-as-they-exist/) [Nicholas of Cusa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-of-cusa/) > [Divinity is in all things in such a way that all things are in divinity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-of-cusa/divinity-is-in-all-things-in-such-a-way-that-all-things-are-in/) [Nicholas of Cusa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-of-cusa/) > [In humility alone lies true greatness, and knowledge and wisdom are profitable only in so far as our lives are governed by them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-of-cusa/in-humility-alone-lies-true-greatness-and-knowledge-and-wisdom-are/) [Nicholas of Cusa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-of-cusa/) > [All we know of the truth is that the absolute truth, such as it is, is beyond our reach.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-of-cusa/all-we-know-of-the-truth-is-that-the-absolute-truth-such-as-it-is-is/) [Nicholas of Cusa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-of-cusa/) > [You are therefore able to run on this path, on which God is found above all vision, hearing, taste, touch, smell, speech, sense, rationality,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-of-cusa/you-are-therefore-able-to-run-on-this-path-on-which-god-is-found/) [Nicholas of Cusa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-of-cusa/) > [Thou art merciful; when all my endeavour is turned toward Thee because all Thy endeavour is turned toward me; when I look unto Thee…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-of-cusa/thou-art-merciful-when-all-my-endeavour-is-turned-toward-thee-because/) [Nicholas of Cusa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-of-cusa/) > [Through itself the soul arrives at all harmony that is perceptible in otherness-just as through what is internal the soul arrives at what is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-of-cusa/through-itself-the-soul-arrives-at-all-harmony-that-is-perceptible-in/) [Nicholas of Cusa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-of-cusa/) > [We see that God has implanted in all things a natural desire to exist with the fullest measure of existence that is compatible with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-of-cusa/we-see-that-god-has-implanted-in-all-things-a-natural-desire-to-exist/) [Nicholas of Cusa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-of-cusa/) > [The rational is apprehended through the intellect, however, the intellect is not found in the region of the rational; the intellect is as the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-of-cusa/the-rational-is-apprehended-through-the-intellect-however-the/) [Nicholas of Cusa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-of-cusa/) > [All things are in the intended endpoint, and this mode of being is called will or desire.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-of-cusa/all-things-are-in-the-intended-endpoint-and-this-mode-of-being-is/) [Nicholas of Cusa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-of-cusa/) > [ Every angle acknowledges that it is a likeness of true angularity, for \[each angle\] is angle not insofar as angle exists in itself but… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-of-cusa/every-angle-acknowledges-that-it-is-a-likeness-of-true-angularity-for/) [Nicholas of Cusa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-of-cusa/) > [For reason's measurements, which attain unto temporal things, do not attain unto things that are free from time-just as hearing does not attain unto…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-of-cusa/for-reason-s-measurements-which-attain-unto-temporal-things-do-not/) [Nicholas of Cusa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-of-cusa/) [Explore all 47 Nicholas of Cusa quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-of-cusa/) ## More Bears quotes > [For not only every democracy, but certainly every republic, bears within itself the seeds of its own destruction.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/for-not-only-every-democracy-but-certainly-every-republic-bears/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [She'd read once that if you ran into a bear in the woods you should avoid eye contact and you shouldn't run away, but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-ursu/she-d-read-once-that-if-you-ran-into-a-bear-in-the-woods-you-should/) [Anne Ursu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-ursu/) > [In the movie, the stars above the ship bear no correspondence to any constellations in a real sky. 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