Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies.
AristotleRead
For as the interposition of a rivulet, however small, will occasion the line of the phalanx to fluctuate, so any trifling disagreement will be the cause of seditions; but they will not so soon flow from anything else as from the disagreement between virtue and vice, and next to that between poverty and riches.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Small disagreements can lead to larger conflicts, particularly between moral opposites and social classes.
Aristotle highlights the significance of even minor conflicts, suggesting that they can disrupt the harmony of a group, akin to how a small stream can affect the formation of an army. He posits that the most profound challenges arise from conflicts between fundamental moral opposites—virtue and vice—and between contrasting social statuses such as wealth and poverty.
Themes
DisagreementConflictVirtueVicePovertyRichesHarmony
In practice
Example use cases
In a debate about ethics, this quote can illustrate the importance of acknowledging moral disagreements.
More from Aristotle
All quotes →Those who cannot bravely face danger are the slaves of their attackers.
AristotleRead
For often, when one is asleep, there is something in consciousness which declares that what then presents itself is but a dream.
AristotleRead
You will never do anything in this world without courage. It is the greatest quality of the mind next to honor.
AristotleRead
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.
AristotleRead
The whole is more than the sum of its parts.
AristotleRead
Similar quotes
Wealthy men can't live in an island that is encircled by poverty. We all breathe the same air. We must give a chance to everyone, at least a basic chance.
Ayrton SennaRead
What our eyes behold may well be the text of life but one's meditations on the text and the disclosures of these meditations are no less a part of the structure of reality.
Wallace StevensRead
The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws.
Ayn RandRead
"This - is now my way - where is yours"? Thus did I answer those who asked me "the way". For the way - it does not exist!
Friedrich NietzscheRead
Renunciation mind has nothing to do with sacrificing. When we talk about renunciation, somwhow we get all scared because we think that we have to give up some goodies, somehing valuable, some important things. But there is nothing that is important; there is nothing that is solidly exisiting. All that you are give up is actually a vague identity . You realize thigs is not true; it's noe the ultimate. This how and why to develop renunciation
Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse RinpocheRead
The Little Mute Boy The little boy was looking for his voice. (The king of the crickets had it.) In a drop of water the little boy was looking for his voice. I do not want it for speaking with; I will make a ring of it so that he may wear my silence on his little finger In a drop of water the little boy was looking for his voice. (The captive voice, far away, put on a cricket's clothes.) Translated by William S. Merwin
Federico Garcia LorcaRead