Divisiveness Quotes

“How can you govern a country which has 246 varieties of cheese?”
― Charles de Gaulle

“Sheep only need a single flock, but people need two: one to belong to and make them feel comfortable, and another to blame all of society’s problems on.”
― james rozoff

“Each man is an island unto himself. But though a sea of difference may divide us, an entire world of commonality lies beneath.”
― James Rozoff

“The world is getting too small for both an Us and a Them. Us and Them have become codependent, intertwined, fixed to one another. We have no separate fates, but are bound together in one. And our fear of one another is the only thing capable of our undoing.”
― Sam Killermann

“It is most remarkable that Lincoln, when he saw so much that was vulnerable in the leadership of the Church, did not move to the opposite error and become a scoffer.”
― Elton Trueblood, Abraham Lincoln: Lessons in Spiritual Leadership

“The more believers are willing to leave their own comfort zone and be genuinely comfortable with people from diverse backgrounds, the more the Lord can use them to minister to others.”
― Henry Hon, One: Unfolding God’s Eternal Purpose from House to House

“Divisiveness leads to a lot of things. Rarely are any of them good.”
― Germany Kent

“With the evolution of Us came the evolution of Them.

The original Them was anyone who wasn’t blood related — Them was pretty much everyone. Over time, as the number of people in Us got bigger, Them got smaller. Them now might mean anyone in any other country. This is a common Them in America, and a Them that only (light use of this word) consists of 95% of the world. Another common Them in America is anyone who isn’t Christian, which is a measly 68% of the world, or roughly 4.8 Billion Thems.

In a relatively short amount of time, Us went from being a fraction of a percent of humanity and Them the rest, to some people experiencing an Us of more than two billion other people, far more than were ever alive at the onset of Us and Them.”
― Sam Killermann

“God is in every particle in the Universe. No religion, no prophet can make division on it.”
― Amit Ray, Peace Bliss Beauty and Truth: Living with Positivity

“Smear extremist labels around like ketchup and your country will soon witness bloodshed.”
― Criss Jami

“The most important thing for morale was to maintain a united front among the officers.”
― Peter Heather, The Fall of the Roman Empire: A New History of Rome and the Barbarians

“When we fail to be tolerant of others, we fail.”
― Cathy Burnham Martin, Encouragement: How to Be and Find the Best

“United WE stand but divided THEY rule.”
― Amit Abraham

“Scapegoating is like the obnoxious Uncle Donald: ignorant, entitled, divisive.”
― Vindy Teja

“So I just think that the reason why we're so susceptible to autocracy now is that we're no longer telling ourselves this positive story of the nation. And I think Trump was brilliant in this way. He told us very divisive, anxiety- and fear-riddled view of the nation-state. But what most Americans don't understand is that historically, they've really gravitated towards that view. Historically, we gravitate towards the anxiety and the fear more so than this progressive notion, what Reagan called us, a city on a hill.”
― Peniel E. Joseph

“All believers have been called into only one fellowship, which is that of Jesus Christ. Believers may mistakenly consider the group they associate with is one fellowship, and every other group has its own separate fellowship. The truth is, all believers belong to only one fellowship...Since all believers are in the one body of Christ, there should be no divisions in Christ.”
― Henry Hon, One: Unfolding God’s Eternal Purpose from House to House

“It can be easy to forget the lessons of history, including the tragedies of war, and ramp up divisive and destructive rhetoric without concern for the consequences.”
― Gudjon Bergmann, Co-Human Harmony: Using Our Shared Humanity to Bridge Divides

“If there is not one God how do different GOD's answer prayers.”
― Amit Abraham

“Geography divides people only if the people allow it - faith divides people only if the people allow it - intellect divides people only if the people allow it - politics divides people only if the people allow it. So, unless the people allow it, nothing can tear our world apart. Unless you allow it, nothing can tear our society apart.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Aşkanjali: The Sufi Sermon

“Condemnation is the voice of fear, Forgiveness is Loves response.”
― Wendy Rae, You Are Not the Boss of Me - a Memoir by Wendy Rae

“The idea of race is a myth most foul,
Born of ignorance and narrowness.
Now we live in a different time,
That requires abolition of divisiveness.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Solo Standing on Guard: Life Before Law

“The three children of fear and confusion - Cowardice, Corruption and Colonisation - had arrived.
Suddenly I did not know what I knew or who I knew.With the exception of my mother, my own
sisters and brothers, and my own children, I did not know anyone at this time.

Some neighbours sprouted horns that could gore me. Colleagues I had known and trusted grew tails. And friends had the Devil's own fire roaring, ready to fry me to brittle bone.
The pressure was fierce for people, everybody, to be involved in what was happening. But not all did so out of conviction.”
― Sindiwe Magona, Forced to Grow

“In the Adaptive Markets framework, complexity means we don't have a good narrative for the system. The solution is obvious: we need to get smarter. Complexity can sometimes be reduced by developing a deeper understanding of the underlying structure of the system. For example, now that we understand the potential for liquidity spirals in statarb portfolios, thanks to August 2007, we can better prepare for them.

But the Adaptive Markets framework points to a second problem with complexity, which is the potential divisiveness of special knowledge and the potential for conflict. If the financial system becomes so complex that only a small number of elites truly understand its function and proper maintenance, this knowledge divides the population into those who know and those who don't. Of course, this situation arises with any piece of unique information - I know how to make scallion pancakes in a particular way so they're crispy on the outside but soft and chewy on the inside, and you probably don't. But that piece of knowledge is hardly worth keeping a secret, and the fact that you don't have that knowledge isn't going to get you too upset.

But suppose I know how to cure diabetes and you don't. Or I know how to prevent cancer by avoiding certain common foods and you don't. Or I know how to price mortgage-backed securities and credit default swaps and you don't. In these cases, the knowledge I possess confers a certain power and status to me. Complexity creates the need for better narratives and those who have those narratives will become the high priests of complex systems, the gatekeepers of critical, life-altering knowledge. And the difficulty in joining the priesthood - earning an MD/Ph.D. in molecular biology and having twenty year of work experience at biotech and pharmaceutical companies, in the case of curing diabetes - coupled with the societal values of the special knowledge will determine the divisiveness of this elitism.”
― Andrew W. Lo, Adaptive Markets: Financial Evolution at the Speed of Thought

“That people choose friendships and alliances based on political, religious, moral convictions; instead of basing on a shared sense of humour and a shared sense of compassion, is testament to how backwards and senile we are as a collective society. Politics, religion, and morals, are naturally divisive because they are built on specific background types. A sense of humour and compassion: these are universal, and people from all backgrounds can be united by these. People are actively looking into the world for reasons to see what they believe to be wrong in others, and huddling together in their small groups; rather than actively looking to find what they can laugh at together. Or what they can help, together.”
― C. JoyBell C.

“We are a tribal species. Unlike young schoolchildren, we prefer division to addition. We divide ourselves into groups of our own justification, sensible or not. Hunters or gatherers. Settlers or nomads. Men or women. Cis or trans. Natives or immigrants. Citizens or noncitizens. Black or White. Rich or poor. Gay or straight. Believers or nonbelievers. Extroverts or introverts. Rural or urban. Nationalists or globalists. Republican or Democrat. Conservative or progressive.”
― Tom C.W. Lin, The Capitalist and the Activist: Corporate Social Activism and the New Business of Change

“We prefer our tribes to the others. We believe in the superiority of our tribe, and we push back against those who threaten our group. Our tribes give us a sense of belonging, cooperation, purpose, comfort, and support. We nurture our tribes with myths and morals, facts and fictions, to bind ourselves to one another.”
― Tom C.W. Lin, The Capitalist and the Activist: Corporate Social Activism and the New Business of Change

“We nurture our tribes with myths and morals, facts and fictions, to bind ourselves to one another. Yet these ties that bind us can also blind us. They can blind us to our limited imagination, to our prejudices, to our similarities, to our shared humanity, to our common hopes, and to our greater good.”
― Tom C.W. Lin, The Capitalist and the Activist: Corporate Social Activism and the New Business of Change

“How many times can you divide a minority culture—.”
― Isabel Waidner, We Are Made Of Diamond Stuff

“Truth is divisive only to those who cling to delusions.”
― Criss Jami

“When we start to categorize people into groups, we create the US them dynamics that we can create in the lab by assigning people to a blue team or a red team once we start to put a label and attach stereotypes to it we create intergroup conflict where it doesn't need to be”
― Jay J. Van Bavel