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
We live always under the weight of the old and odious customs... of our barbarous ancestors.
Guy De MaupassantRead
Attack those concepts such as 'third world.' Think about it. If we look at it in terms of numbers, then people of color are the majority in this world. We should be the 'first world.'
H. Rap BrownRead
The sheer folly of trying to defend a nation by destroying all life on the planet must be apparent to anyone capable of rational thought. Nuclear capability must be reduced to zero, globally, permanently. There is no other option.
Queen Noor Of JordanRead
The idea that we have the right to inflict suffering and death on other sentient beings for the trivial reasons of palate pleasure and fashion is, without doubt, one of the most arrogant and morally repugnant notions in the history of human thought.
Gary L. FrancioneRead
Being a Christian means renouncing ourselves, taking up the cross and carrying it with Jesus. There is no other way.
Pope FrancisRead
The day before is what we bring to the day we're actually living through, life is a matter of carrying along all those days-before just as someone might carry stones, and when we can no longer cope with the load, the work is done, the last day is the only one that is not the day before another day.
Jose SaramagoRead