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
Without opium, plans, marriages and journeys appear to me just as foolish as if someone falling out of a window were to hope to make friends with the occupants of the room before which he passes.
Jean CocteauRead
The barrenest of all mortals is the sentimentalist.
Thomas CarlyleRead
I act because I can't seem to live with myself if I do not. I don't know any other way to be. It isn't something you can explain; it is just something that you do; it is something that you are.
Martin SheenRead
Give us, O God, the vision which can see Your love in the world in spite of human failure. Give us the faith to trust Your goodness in spite of our ignorance and weakness. Give us the knowledge that we may continue to pray with understanding hearts. And show us what each one of us can do to set forward the coming of the day of universal peace.
Frank BormanRead
The desire to sacrifice an entire lifetime to the noblest of ideals serves no purpose if one works alone.
Che GuevaraRead
To awaken within the dream is our purpose now. When we are awake within the dream, the ego-created earth-drama comes to an end and a more benign and wonderous dream arises.
Eckhart TolleRead