Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies.
AristotleRead
We must no more ask whether the soul and body are one than ask whether the wax and the figure impressed on it are one.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote illustrates the intrinsic connection between the soul and the body, comparing them to wax and a figure molded into it.
Aristotle's quote suggests that the relationship between the soul and the body is fundamental and inseparable, similar to how a wax figure cannot exist without the wax itself. The metaphor emphasizes the idea that just as wax cannot be considered apart from the shape it takes, the soul cannot be entirely understood without the body, highlighting the importance of both in the essence of being.
Themes
SoulBodyPhilosophyAristotleUnity
In practice
Example use cases
In a philosophy class discussion about the nature of existence, this quote can be used to explain the relationship between the mind and body.
More from Aristotle
All quotes βThose 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
All of us have areas of weakness. God wants these character flaws to show us how totally dependent we are upon Him. When we handle them properly, they drive us into a deeper, more intimate relationship with the Lord. But uncontrolled weakness wreaks havoc in a person's life.
Charles StanleyRead
Man need not be degraded to a machine by being denied to be a ghost in a machine. He might, after all, be a sort of animal, namely, a higher mammal. There has yet to be ventured the hazardous leap to the hypothesis that perhaps he is a man.
Gilbert RyleRead
I know nothing of this silence except that it lies outside the reach of my intelligence, beyond words - that is why this silence must win, must inevitably defeat me, because it is not a presence at all.
Amitav GhoshRead
Because he is a living divinity, when he acts, the universe acts.
LaoziRead
Nakedness has no color: this can come as news only to those who have never covered, or been covered by, another naked human being.
James A. BaldwinRead
The great man, Genghis Khan, only knew how to shoot eagles with an arrow. The past is past. To see real heroes, look around you.
Mao ZedongRead