Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies.
Boundaries don't protect rivers, people do.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes the idea that human actions and relationships are what truly safeguard and nurture our communities and natural resources.
In this quote by Aristotle, the speaker suggests that physical boundaries, such as those that delineate territories or properties, are not sufficient to ensure the protection of rivers or the welfare of people living near them. Instead, it is the people—through their choices, actions, and care—who contribute to the stewardship and conservation of the environment. This highlights the importance of human responsibility and involvement in preserving both nature and society.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
During a community meeting discussing local environmental conservation efforts.
More from Aristotle
All quotes →Those who cannot bravely face danger are the slaves of their attackers.
For often, when one is asleep, there is something in consciousness which declares that what then presents itself is but a dream.
You will never do anything in this world without courage. It is the greatest quality of the mind next to honor.
But if nothing but soul, or in soul mind, is qualified to count, it is impossible for there to be time unless there is soul, but only that of which time is an attribute, i.e. if change can exist without soul.
The whole is more than the sum of its parts.
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Things happen to us in unpredictable ways, but the effect that that has on the kind of people who we become actually is not only open to chance - we can influence it in pretty profound ways.
And we must beg Homer and the other poets not to be angry if we strike out these and similar passages, not because they are unpoetical, or unattractive to the popular ear, but because the greater the poetical charm in them, the less are they meet for the ears of boys and men who are meant to be free, and who should fear slavery more than death.
Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by rulers as useful.