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Men would live exceedingly quiet if these two words, mine and thine, were taken away.
Anaxagoras
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Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote suggests that conflict arises from ownership and possessiveness.

Anaxagoras implies that the concepts of ownership, represented by 'mine' and 'thine', are significant sources of turmoil in human relationships. Without the distinction of possession, people might find greater peace and harmony, as many conflicts stem from how we attribute value to things based on ownership.

Themes

OwnershipPeaceConflictHuman NaturePossessiveness

In practice

Example use cases

In a discussion about minimalism, this quote could emphasize the benefits of reducing attachments.

More from Anaxagoras

The Greeks are wrong to recognize coming into being and perishing; for nothing comes into being nor perishes, but is rather compounded or dissolved from things that are. So they would be right to call coming into being composition and perishing dissolution.
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Appearances are a glimpse of the unseen.
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It is not I who have lost the Athenians, but the Athenians who have lost me.
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Everything has a natural explanation. The moon is not a god but a great rock and the sun a hot rock.
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And since the portions of the great and the small are equal in number, so too all things would be in everything. Nor is it possible that they should exist apart, but all things have a portion of everything.
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The descent into Hades is much the same from whatever place we start.
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