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The Pythagoreans thought those who teach for the sake of reward show themselves worse than sculptors, or artists who perform the work sitting. For these, when someone orders wood to make a statue of Hermes, search for wood suited to receive the proper form; while those pretend that they can readily produce the works of virtue from every nature.

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More quotes by Iamblichus

For us it is sufficient that this is the will of the Gods, which all enable us to undertake tasks even more arduous than these.

If the potential of every number is in the monad, then the monad would be intelligible number in the strict sense, since it is not yet manifesting anything actual, but everything conceptually together in it.

It is irreverent to the Gods to give you this demonstration, but for your sakes it shall be done.

Whoever is a truly good man seeks a renown not by means of an ornament that does not belong to him but by means of his own virtue.

The Pythagoreans called the monad "intellect" because they thought that intellect was akin to the One; for among the virtues, they likened the monad to moral wisdom; for what is correct is one.

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Iamblichus (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.