Unity in diversity

Quotes regarding concepts of Unity.

Quotes

Individualities will differ one from another. But in reality this is a reason for unity and not for discord and enmity. If the flowers of a garden were all of one color, the effect would be monotonous to the eye; but if the colors are variegated, it is most pleasing and wonderful. ~ `Abdu'l-Bahá

Alphabetized by author

United we stand; divided we fall. ~ Aesop

Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. ~ Norman Maclean

Heart of my heart, we are one with the wind,
One with the clouds that are whirled o'er the lea,
One in many, O broken and blind,
One as the waves are at one with the sea! ~ Alfred Noyes

One, we are one, O heart of my heart,
One, still one, while the world grows old. ~ Alfred Noyes

Unity in diversity is the highest possible attainment of a civilisation, a testimony to the most noble possibilities of the human race. This attainment is made possible through passionate concern for choice, in an atmosphere of social trust. ~ Michael Novak

The world needs the unifying power of the imagination. The two things that give it best are poetry and religion. ~ R. S. Thomas

• As difference in degree of capacity exists among human souls, as difference in capability is found, therefore, individualities will differ one from another. But in reality this is a reason for unity and not for discord and enmity. If the flowers of a garden were all of one color, the effect would be monotonous to the eye; but if the colors are variegated, it is most pleasing and wonderful. The difference in adornment of color and capacity of reflection among the flowers gives the garden its beauty and charm. Therefore, although we are of different individualities, . . . let us strive like flowers of the same divine garden to live together in harmony. Even though each soul has its own individual perfume and color, all are reflecting the same light, all contributing fragrance to the same breeze which blows through the garden, all continuing to grow in complete harmony and accord.

• `Abdu'l-Bahá, in The Promulgation of Universal Peace : Talks Delivered by `Abdu'l-Bahá during His Visit to the United States and Canada in 1912 (1982), edited by the US Bahá'í Publishing Trust, p. 24

• United we stand; divided we fall.

• Aesop in "The Four Oxen and the Lion", Fables, also known as "The Lion and the Bulls"

• Misato: Don't you want to be comfortable? To be restful? Don't you want to become one with us? Body and soul, too... become one.
  • Hideaki Anno, Neon Genesis Evangelion Episode 26: My pure Heart to You

• What was sundered and undone shall be whole, the two made one.

• Aughra, voiced by Billie Whitelaw in The Dark Crystal (1982), directed by Jim Henson and Frank Oz

• The utterance of God is a lamp, whose light is these words: Ye are the fruits of one tree, and the leaves of one branch. Deal ye one with another in the utmost love and harmony. …So powerful is the light of unity that it can illuminate the whole earth.

• Baha'u'llah, as quoted in The Baháí̕ Temple : House of Worship of a World Faith (1942) edited by National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the United States

• Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!

• Bible Psalms 133:1

• In the "Alexandrian" explanation described above, the multiple from which evolution emerges is both secondary and sinful from its origin: it represents in fact (an idea that smacks of Manicheanism and the Hindu metaphysical systems) broken and pulverized unity. Starting from a very much more modern and completely different point of view, let us assert, as our original postulate, that, the multiple (that is, non-being, if taken in the pure state) being the only rational form of a creatable (creabile) nothingness, the creative act is comprehensible only as a gradual process of arrangement and unification, which amounts to accepting that to create is to unite. And, indeed, there is nothing to prevent our holding that union creates. To the objection that union presupposes already existing elements, I shall answer that physics has just shown us (in the case of mass) that experientially (and for all the protests of "common sense") the moving object exists only as the product of its motion.

• Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Christianity and Evolution 1971, pp. 193–195

• Unity of intent is on the lips of many, but in the hearts of few.

• Fausto Cercignani in: Brian Morris, Simply Transcribed. Quotations from Writings by Fausto Cercignani, 2014, quote 44

• Despite the immense diversity of creation, we all accept that there exists in nature a profound underlying unity. The search for this unity provides the motivation for the lives of many different men — some who, like Einstein, search for it in general natural laws and others who, like Teilhard de Chardin, would trace cosmic evolution to a divine origin.
  • René Dubos, Science and Man's Nature (1965)

• Tous pour un, un pour tous, c'est notre devise
  • All for one, one for all, that is our motto.
  • Alexandre Dumas,The Three Musketeers, (1844) Ch. 9: D'Artagnan Shows Himself

• A human being is a part of the whole, called by us “Universe,’ a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest — a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole nature in its beauty.
  • Albert Einstein in Condolence letter to Norman Salit, (4 March 1950); also quoted in "The Einstein Papers. A Man of Many Parts" in The New York Times (29 March 1972)

• We are all equal, despite the country we come from, and national differences should be ignored. We are all a unity. We must shed all jealousy and envy because they are harmful. We are all one with each other and with God.
  • Haidakhan Babaji, The Teachings of Babaji, 2 April 1980.

• Ra's al Ghul: In the new world, all peoples will be united, every race, every faith, every creed will find common purpose... our world is not for everyone. Only those who prove their worth will enter it. The rest will be purged... and if nine hundred and ninety-nine must perish for every one who lives... so be it!

• David Hine Azrael Vol 2 #18

• We are all one in God’s seeing.
  • Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love (c.1393), Ch. 30

• Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world's great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs.
  I am haunted by waters.
  • Norman Maclean, A River Runs Through It (1976)

• In necessariis unitas, in dubiis libertas, in omnibus caritas
  • Unity in things Necessary, Liberty in things Unnecessary, and Charity in all.
  • Rupertus Meldenius (Peter Meiderlin) in Paraenesis votiva pro Pace Ecclesiae ad Theologos Augustanae Confessionis, Auctore Ruperto Meldenio Theologo (c. 1627). Some forms of this statement have been attributed to Richard Baxter, but though he used the motto, he himself attributed it to Meldenius.

• Oh, shame to men! devil with devil damn'd
  Firm concord holds, men only disagree
  Of creatures rational.
  • John Milton, Paradise Lost (1667; 1674), Book II, line 496

• Heart of my heart, we are one with the wind,
  One with the clouds that are whirled o'er the lea,
  One in many, O broken and blind,
  One as the waves are at one with the sea!
  Ay! when life seems scattered apart,
  Darkens, ends as a tale that is told,
  One, we are one, O heart of my heart,
  One, still one, while the world grows old.
  • Alfred Noyes, in "Unity", in The Golden Hynde and Other Poems (1914)

• Unity in diversity is the highest possible attainment of a civilisation, a testimony to the most noble possibilities of the human race. This attainment is made possible through passionate concern for choice, in an atmosphere of social trust.
  • Michael Novak, Unity in Diversity : An Index to the Publications of Conservative and Libertarian Institutions (1983)

• As soon as an object is regarded as a dynamic entity, then analysis and definition become both difficult and unsatisfactory. Thinking is under such circumstances well-nigh impossible for most people. To think at all logically, no matter how concretistic the thought may be, there must be some static point. Where, now are we to look for this point? The man of action answers, in its effect. Then an object becomes completely separated... from all other objective elements as well as from the perceiving self. ...Reality, in other words, is pragmatic. ...Like all other philosophers, he [the thinker, as opposed to the man of action] is... aware of the movement and the shifting form of things. He is as much impressed by this as the man of action. But the world must first be static and objects must first take on a permanent or, at least, a stable form before one can deal with them systematically. ...The attempts of these primitive thinkers are embodied in numerous creation myths... the task is always the same—an original, moving, shapeless or undifferentiated world must be brought to rest and given stable form. ...There exist, however, many things that manifestly do not have permanence of form and do look different at different times. Philosophers have always given the same answer to this problem and predicated a unity behind these changing aspects and forms.
  • Paul Radin, Primitive Man as Philosopher (1927)

• Concordia res parvae crescunt, discordia maximae dilabantur. or Nam concordia parvae res crescunt, discordia maxumae dilabuntur.
  • By union the smallest states thrive, by discord the greatest are destroyed.
    • Sallust in Bellum Iugurthinum Ch. X

• Seid einig — einig — einig.
  • Be united — united — united.
    • Friedrich von Schiller in Wilhelm Tell

• Let's be together, and let's fight together!
  • Oksana Shachko, as quoted in Interview: Speaking of Femen-ism (3 August 2015), Luxemburger Wort.

• So we grew together,
  Like to a double cherry, seeming parted,
  But yet an union in partition —
  Two lovely berries moulded on one stem;
  So, with two seeming bodies, but one heart;
  Two of the first, like coats in heraldry,
  Due but to one, and crowned with one crest.
  • William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Helena in Act III, sc. 2

• Their meetings made December June.
  Their every parting was to die.
  • Alfred Tennyson, In Memoriam A.H.H. (1849), XCVII

• Now the power of the imagination is a unifying power, hence the force of metaphor; and the poet is the supreme manipulator of metaphor... the world needs the unifying power of the imagination. The two things that give it best are poetry and religion.
  • R. S. Thomas, Selected Prose (1995), p. 131

• He loved her so passionately he wanted her to be one soul and one body with him; and he was conscious that here, with those deep roots attaching her to the native life, she would always keep something from him.
  • W. Somerset Maugham, Collected short stories 1, "The pool", p. 123

• El pueblo unido jamás será vencido, el pueblo unido jamás será vencido.
  • The people united will never be defeated, The people united will never be defeated.
  • Sergio Ortega and Quilapayún, El pueblo unido jamás será vencido

• Unity isn't established by ignoring the differences between different groups, but by persuading everyone to take all the different struggles seriously.
  • Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, The fight against racism doesn't stop here (July 23, 2013), Socialist Worker.

• I know that my unity with all people cannot be destroyed by national boundaries and government orders.
  • Leo Tolstoy, My Religion (1884)

See also

• 1 (number)
• Monism
• Unity of command

External links