--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: If measure and symmetry are absent from…" description: "\"If measure and symmetry are absent from any composition in any degree, ruin awaits both the ingredients and the composition... Measure and symmetry are..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fc8/socrates-405_absent_if-measure-and-symmetry-are-absent-from_50986.jpg" --- # If measure and symmetry are absent from any composition in… ![“If measure and symmetry are absent from any composition in any degree, ruin awaits both the ingredients and the composition... Measure and symmetry are beauty and virtue the world over.” quote by Socrates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fc8/socrates-405_absent_if-measure-and-symmetry-are-absent-from_50986.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fc8/socrates-405_absent_if-measure-and-symmetry-are-absent-from_50986.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fc8/socrates-405_absent_if-measure-and-symmetry-are-absent-from_50986.jpg) > “If measure and symmetry are absent from any composition in any degree, ruin awaits both the ingredients and the composition... Measure and symmetry are beauty and virtue the world over.” [Socrates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/socrates/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Without proportionality and balance, both the parts and the whole degrade; harmony is essential for aesthetic and moral value. **In simple terms:** Balance prevents decay. Key Takeaway Symmetry underpins beauty and virtue. Themes aesthetic philosophy ethics order vs chaos proportion beauty Mood contemplative inspired Type philosophical maxim When to use this quote - architectural design - musical composition - visual art creation - urban planning - product design Key Concepts measure symmetry composition virtue Practical Applications - guiding design principles - evaluating artistic works Questions to Reflect On - How does symmetry influence perception of quality? - Can imbalance be purposeful without ruining a work? ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Absent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/absent/) [Beauty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/beauty/) [Beauty Virtue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/beauty-virtue-463132/) [Composition](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/composition/) [Degrees](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/degrees/) [Greek philosopher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/greek-philosopher/) [Ifs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ifs/) [Ingredients](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ingredients/) [Measure Symmetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/measure-symmetry-726799/) [Ruins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ruins/) [Symmetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/symmetry/) [Symmetry Absent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/symmetry-absent-726801/) [Symmetry Beauty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/symmetry-beauty-726800/) [Virtue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/virtue/) [Wise man once said](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wise-man-once-said/) [World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world/) ## Related quotes > [There is no possession more valuable than a good and faithful friend.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/socrates/there-is-no-possession-more-valuable-than-a-good-and-faithful-friend/) [Socrates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/socrates/) > [To live well and honorably and justly are the same thing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/socrates/to-live-well-and-honorably-and-justly-are-the-same-thing/) [Socrates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/socrates/) > [...Nature builds up her refined and invisible architecture, with a delicacy eluding our conception, yet with a symmetry and beauty which we are never…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-herschel/nature-builds-up-her-refined-and-invisible-architecture-with-a/) [John Herschel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-herschel/) > [My good friend, you are a citizen of Athens, a city which is very great and very famous for its wisdom and power -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/plato/my-good-friend-you-are-a-citizen-of-athens-a-city-which-is-very-great/) [Plato](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/plato/) > [The chief forms of beauty are order and symmetry and definiteness, which the mathematical sciences demonstrate in a special degree.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/the-chief-forms-of-beauty-are-order-and-symmetry-and-definiteness/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) > [If you do not take an interest in the affairs of your government, then you are doomed to live under the rule of fools.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/plato/if-you-do-not-take-an-interest-in-the-affairs-of-your-government-then/) [Plato](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/plato/) > [At this time is freedom anything but the right to live as we wish? Nothing else.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/epictetus/at-this-time-is-freedom-anything-but-the-right-to-live-as-we-wish/) [Epictetus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/epictetus/) > [There is far greater peril in buying knowledge than in buying meat and drink.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/plato/there-is-far-greater-peril-in-buying-knowledge-than-in-buying-meat/) [Plato](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/plato/) > [If you do not expect the unexpected, you will not recognize it when it arrives.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/heraclitus/if-you-do-not-expect-the-unexpected-you-will-not-recognize-it-when-it/) [Heraclitus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/heraclitus/) > [The soul is dyed the color of its thoughts. 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When enough sins have accumulated,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hippocrates/illnesses-do-not-come-upon-us-out-of-the-blue-they-are-developed-from/) [Hippocrates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hippocrates/) > [She soars on her own wings.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/socrates/she-soars-on-her-own-wings/) [Socrates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/socrates/) > [Well I am certainly wiser than this man. It is only too likely that neither of us has any knowledge to boast of; but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/socrates/well-i-am-certainly-wiser-than-this-man-it-is-only-too-likely-that/) [Socrates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/socrates/) > [No man undertakes a trade he has not learned, even the meanest; yet everyone thinks himself sufficiently qualified for the hardest of all trades,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/socrates/no-man-undertakes-a-trade-he-has-not-learned-even-the-meanest-yet-2/) [Socrates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/socrates/) ## More by Socrates > [By all means marry; if you get a good wife, you'll be happy. If you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/socrates/by-all-means-marry-if-you-get-a-good-wife-you-ll-be-happy-if-you-get/) [Socrates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/socrates/) > [Falling down is not a failure. Failure comes when you stay where you have fallen.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/socrates/falling-down-is-not-a-failure-failure-comes-when-you-stay-where-you/) [Socrates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/socrates/) > [Do not go through life like leaf blown from here to there believing whatever you are told.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/socrates/do-not-go-through-life-like-leaf-blown-from-here-to-there-believing/) [Socrates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/socrates/) > [If the whole world depends on today's youth, I can't see the world lasting another 100 years.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/socrates/if-the-whole-world-depends-on-today-s-youth-i-can-t-see-the-world/) [Socrates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/socrates/) > [“I only know, I know nothing”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/socrates/i-only-know-i-know-nothing/) [Socrates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/socrates/) > [I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/socrates/i-cannot-teach-anybody-anything-i-can-only-make-them-think/) [Socrates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/socrates/) > [Marry a good woman, and be happy the rest of your life. 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You just think he's... tardy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-majors/the-interesting-thing-about-an-absent-father-is-for-a-child-you-don-t/) [Jonathan Majors](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-majors/) > [For my own part, I would rather be in company with a dead man than with an absent one; for if the dead man…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/for-my-own-part-i-would-rather-be-in-company-with-a-dead-man-than/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“You may not appreciate the presence of good health, but you will definitely regret the absence of good health, because health is happiness.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amit-kalantri/you-may-not-appreciate-the-presence-of-good-health-but-you-will/) [Amit Kalantri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amit-kalantri/) > [... if we are ashamed to imitate our Lord's sufferings, which He endured for us, and to suffer as He suffered, it is obvious…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/symeon-the-new-theologian/if-we-are-ashamed-to-imitate-our-lord-s-sufferings-which-he-endured/) [Symeon the New Theologian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/symeon-the-new-theologian/) > [It's Simon, he's missing." 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