Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies.
The weak are always anxious for justice and equality. The strong pay no heed to either.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote highlights the disparity in how the weak and strong perceive justice and equality.
Aristotle's quote reflects on the dynamics of power and morality. It suggests that those who lack strength or influence are often the ones who yearn for fairness and equity in society, as their vulnerabilities make them more aware of injustices. In contrast, those who possess strength and power tend to ignore these concepts, implying a disconnect between the values of the strong and the experiences of the weak. This can lead to a societal imbalance where the needs of the less powerful are overlooked.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech advocating for social reform, one might cite this quote to emphasize the need for equality.
More from Aristotle
All quotes βThose who cannot bravely face danger are the slaves of their attackers.
For often, when one is asleep, there is something in consciousness which declares that what then presents itself is but a dream.
You will never do anything in this world without courage. It is the greatest quality of the mind next to honor.
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.
The whole is more than the sum of its parts.
Similar quotes
Know what it is to be a child? It is to be something very different from the man of today. It is to have a spirit yet streaming from the waters of Baptism; it is to believe in belief; it is to be so little that elves can reach to whisper in your ear; it is to turn pumpkins into coaches, and mice into horses, lowness into loftiness, and nothing into everything, for each child had its fairy godmother in its soul.
These pages are not my confession; theyβre my definition. And I feel, as I begin to write it, that I can write it with some semblance of truth.
You cannot be a man of faith unless you know how to doubt.
People know about the Klan and the overt racism, but the killing of one's soul little by little, day after day, is a lot worse than someone coming in your house and lynching you.
Learning to weep, learning to keep vigil, learning to wait for the dawn. Perhaps this is what it means to be human.
One of the major differences I see in the political climate today is that there is less collective support for coming to critical consciousness β in communities, in institutions, among friends.