--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The notion of the perfect whole, the…" description: "\"The notion of the perfect whole, the ultimate solution in which all good things coexist, seems to me not merely unobtainable--that is a truism--but con..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5c7/isaiah-berlin-10150_choices_the-notion-of-the-perfect-whole-the-ulti_2781976.jpg" --- # The notion of the perfect whole, the ultimate solution in… ![“The notion of the perfect whole, the ultimate solution in which all good things coexist, seems to me not merely unobtainable--that is a truism--but conceptually incoherent. …Some among the great goods cannot live together. That is a conceptual truth. We are doomed to choose, and every choice may…” quote by Isaiah Berlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5c7/isaiah-berlin-10150_choices_the-notion-of-the-perfect-whole-the-ulti_2781976.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5c7/isaiah-berlin-10150_choices_the-notion-of-the-perfect-whole-the-ulti_2781976.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5c7/isaiah-berlin-10150_choices_the-notion-of-the-perfect-whole-the-ulti_2781976.jpg) > “The notion of the perfect whole, the ultimate solution in which all good things coexist, seems to me not merely unobtainable--that is a truism--but conceptually incoherent. …Some among the great goods cannot live together. That is a conceptual truth. We are doomed to choose, and every choice may entail an irreparable loss.” [Isaiah Berlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaiah-berlin/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The idea of a perfectly harmonious solution is impossible because valuable goals often conflict, forcing inevitable trade‑offs. **In simple terms:** Perfect harmony is impossible; choices cause loss. Key Takeaway Accept trade‑offs, prioritize wisely. Themes ethics decision‑making conflict Mood thoughtful serious Type philosophical analytical When to use this quote - policy design - personal life - business strategy - environmental planning Key Concepts pluralism incommensurability trade‑offs Questions to Reflect On - Which values are you willing to sacrifice? - How do you evaluate unavoidable losses? A Different Perspective Ideal solutions ignore real incompatibilities, leading to unrealistic expectations. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Choices](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/choices/) [Good things](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/good-things/) [Loss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/loss/) [Truism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/truism/) [Truth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/truth/) ## Related quotes > [It can be a necessary conceptual truth that pains are painful without this ruling out the physicalist thesis that immaterial minds are impossible or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elliott-sober/it-can-be-a-necessary-conceptual-truth-that-pains-are-painful-without/) [Elliott Sober](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elliott-sober/) > [There is a constant and intimate contact among the things that coexist and co-evolve in the universe - a sharing of bonds and messages…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ervin-laszlo/there-is-a-constant-and-intimate-contact-among-the-things-that/) [Ervin Laszlo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ervin-laszlo/) > [We are doomed to choose, and every choice may entail an irreparable loss.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaiah-berlin/we-are-doomed-to-choose-and-every-choice-may-entail-an-irreparable/) [Isaiah Berlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaiah-berlin/) > [Physics is an attempt conceptually to grasp reality as something that is considered to be independent of its being observed. In this sense one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-einstein/physics-is-an-attempt-conceptually-to-grasp-reality-as-something-that/) [Albert Einstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-einstein/) > [We think because we have words, not the other way around. The more words we have, the better able we are to think conceptually.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/madeleine-l-engle/we-think-because-we-have-words-not-the-other-way-around-the-more/) [Madeleine L'Engle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/madeleine-l-engle/) > [Physical objects are conceptually imported into the situation as convenient intermediaries not by definition in terms of experience, but simply as irreducible posits comparable,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/physical-objects-are-conceptually-imported-into-the-situation-as/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [We wanted to sit down and conceptually work out songs.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mike-lowry/we-wanted-to-sit-down-and-conceptually-work-out-songs/) [Mike Lowry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mike-lowry/) > ['Mercy,' I love conceptually because I feel like you can either think about it as if it were a girl - which it sounds…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shawn-mendes/mercy-i-love-conceptually-because-i-feel-like-you-can-either-think/) [Shawn Mendes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shawn-mendes/) > [Conceptually, we may call truth what we cannot change; metaphorically, it is the ground on which we stand and the sky that stretches above…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah/conceptually-we-may-call-truth-what-we-cannot-change-metaphorically/) [Hannah](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah/) > [To explain away the mystery of a great painting - if such a feat were possible - would do irreparable harm... If there is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georges-braque/to-explain-away-the-mystery-of-a-great-painting-if-such-a-feat-were/) [Georges Braque](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georges-braque/) > [“Roto no es lo mismo que irreparable”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marissa-meyer/roto-no-es-lo-mismo-que-irreparable/) [marissa meyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marissa-meyer/) > [Without doing injustice to the living, it may safely be asserted that our loss is irreparable; and that among the shining hosts of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jefferson-davis/without-doing-injustice-to-the-living-it-may-safely-be-asserted-that/) [Jefferson Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jefferson-davis/) > [Reasonably accurate appraisal of one's own capabilities is, therefore, of considerable value in successful functioning. Large misjudgments of personal efficacy in either direction have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-bandura/reasonably-accurate-appraisal-of-one-s-own-capabilities-is-therefore/) [Albert Bandura](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-bandura/) > [The penalty of death is the only one that makes an injustice absolutely irreparable; from which it follows that the existence of the death…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicolas-de-caritat-marquis-de-condorcet/the-penalty-of-death-is-the-only-one-that-makes-an-injustice/) [Nicolas de Caritat, marquis de Condorcet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicolas-de-caritat-marquis-de-condorcet/) > [Rebut the negative, and the opposing campaign has not merely lost a skirmish, it has suffered almost irreparable damage. An effective rebuttal makes it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dick-morris/rebut-the-negative-and-the-opposing-campaign-has-not-merely-lost-a/) [Dick Morris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dick-morris/) ## More by Isaiah Berlin > [Those who have ever valued liberty for its own sake believed that to be free to choose, and not to be chosen for, is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaiah-berlin/those-who-have-ever-valued-liberty-for-its-own-sake-believed-that-to/) [Isaiah Berlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaiah-berlin/) > [Liberty is liberty, not equality or fairness or justice or human happiness or a quiet conscience.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaiah-berlin/liberty-is-liberty-not-equality-or-fairness-or-justice-or-human/) [Isaiah Berlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaiah-berlin/) > [“The world that we encounter in ordinary experience is one in which we are faced by choices equally absolute, the realisation of some of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaiah-berlin/the-world-that-we-encounter-in-ordinary-experience-is-one-in-which-we/) [Isaiah Berlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaiah-berlin/) > [Philosophers are adults who persist in asking childish questions.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaiah-berlin/philosophers-are-adults-who-persist-in-asking-childish-questions/) [Isaiah Berlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaiah-berlin/) > [The history of society is the history of the inventive labors that man alter man, alter his desires, habits, outlook, relationships both to other…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaiah-berlin/the-history-of-society-is-the-history-of-the-inventive-labors-that/) [Isaiah Berlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaiah-berlin/) > [Out of the crooked timber of humanity, nothing completely straight was ever made](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaiah-berlin/out-of-the-crooked-timber-of-humanity-nothing-completely-straight-was/) [Isaiah Berlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaiah-berlin/) > [Utopias have their value -- nothing so wonderfully expands the imaginative horizons of human potentialities -- but as guides to conduct they can prove…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaiah-berlin/utopias-have-their-value-nothing-so-wonderfully-expands-the/) [Isaiah Berlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaiah-berlin/) > [Both liberty and equality are among the primary goals pursued by human beings throughout many centuries; but total liberty for wolves is death to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaiah-berlin/both-liberty-and-equality-are-among-the-primary-goals-pursued-by/) [Isaiah Berlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaiah-berlin/) > [All forms of tampering with human beings, getting at them, shaping them against their will to your own pattern, all thought control and conditioning…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaiah-berlin/all-forms-of-tampering-with-human-beings-getting-at-them-shaping-them/) [Isaiah Berlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaiah-berlin/) > [The case against the notion of historical objectivity is like the case against international law, or international morality; that it does not exist.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaiah-berlin/the-case-against-the-notion-of-historical-objectivity-is-like-the/) [Isaiah Berlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaiah-berlin/) > [“True pluralism, as Berlin understands it, is much more tough-minded and intellectually bold: it rejects the view that all conflicts of values can be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaiah-berlin/true-pluralism-as-berlin-understands-it-is-much-more-tough-minded-and/) [Isaiah Berlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaiah-berlin/) > [Liberty and equality, spontaneity and security, happiness and knowledge, mercy and justice - all these are ultimate human values, sought for themselves alone; yet…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaiah-berlin/liberty-and-equality-spontaneity-and-security-happiness-and-knowledge/) [Isaiah Berlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaiah-berlin/) > [To understand is to perceive patterns.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaiah-berlin/to-understand-is-to-perceive-patterns/) [Isaiah Berlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaiah-berlin/) > [“The view that the truth is one and undivided, and the same for all men everywhere at all times, whether one finds it in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaiah-berlin/the-view-that-the-truth-is-one-and-undivided-and-the-same-for-all-men/) [Isaiah Berlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaiah-berlin/) > [The most passionate, consistent, extreme and implacable enemy of the Enlightenment and ... all forms of rationalism ... was Johann Georg Hamann. His influence,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaiah-berlin/the-most-passionate-consistent-extreme-and-implacable-enemy-of-the/) [Isaiah Berlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaiah-berlin/) [Explore all 64 Isaiah Berlin quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaiah-berlin/) ## More Choices quotes > [Of all the people who have affected my life and influenced the choices I've made, none has been more important than my father. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/teddy-atlas/of-all-the-people-who-have-affected-my-life-and-influenced-the/) [Teddy Atlas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/teddy-atlas/) > [“Don’t allow anyone to pressure you into taking a job in a field that doesn’t feel right in your gut. You are the one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alison-james/don-t-allow-anyone-to-pressure-you-into-taking-a-job-in-a-field-that/) Alison James > [When you have a choice, choose happy!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pancho-barnes/when-you-have-a-choice-choose-happy/) Pancho Barnes > [By making conscious choices in our behavior and where we focus our attention, we can transform our experience of our body, decrease our biological…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deepak-chopra/by-making-conscious-choices-in-our-behavior-and-where-we-focus-our/) [Deepak Chopra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deepak-chopra/) > [Movies have power. Power to impact society and the choices we make. I want to entertain, but I also want to say something to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gina-prince-bythewood/movies-have-power-power-to-impact-society-and-the-choices-we-make-i/) [Gina Prince-Bythewood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gina-prince-bythewood/) > [If you have a different mindset, you will have a different outcome: if you make different choices from your peers, your life will then…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-ma/if-you-have-a-different-mindset-you-will-have-a-different-outcome-if/) [Jack Ma](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-ma/) > [Personally, I prefer contemporary films, but the market calls for more period choices, especially since China opened up a cinema market in Hong Kong.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donnie-yen/personally-i-prefer-contemporary-films-but-the-market-calls-for-more/) [Donnie Yen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donnie-yen/) > [Clarissa," he said, "here with the vampire, I see. When things have settled a bit, we really must discuss you choice in pets..](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cassandra-clare/clarissa-he-said-here-with-the-vampire-i-see-when-things-have-settled/) [Cassandra Clare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cassandra-clare/) > [Change is inevitable but personal growth is a choice.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-proctor/change-is-inevitable-but-personal-growth-is-a-choice/) [Bob Proctor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-proctor/) > [Time hath not yet so dried this blood of mine, Nor age so eat up my invention, Nor fortune made such havoc of my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/time-hath-not-yet-so-dried-this-blood-of-mine-nor-age-so-eat-up-my/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) > [If you choose to draw from the inner well of free will, then you can make choices that are outside your current karmic patterns.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-lenz/if-you-choose-to-draw-from-the-inner-well-of-free-will-then-you-can/) [Frederick Lenz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-lenz/) > [Act always so as to increase the number of choices](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/heinz-von-foerster/act-always-so-as-to-increase-the-number-of-choices/) [Heinz von Foerster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/heinz-von-foerster/) > [Give me a platter of choice finnan haddie, freshly cooked in its bath of water and milk, add melted butter, a slice or two…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/craig-claiborne/give-me-a-platter-of-choice-finnan-haddie-freshly-cooked-in-its-bath/) [Craig Claiborne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/craig-claiborne/) > [I don't know that any woman could ever not think about that at some point - even making the choice not to do it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/naomi-watts/i-don-t-know-that-any-woman-could-ever-not-think-about-that-at-some/) [Naomi Watts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/naomi-watts/) > [In this choice of inheritance we have given to our frame of polity the image of a relation in blood; binding up the constitution…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/in-this-choice-of-inheritance-we-have-given-to-our-frame-of-polity/) [Edmund Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-burke/) [Browse all 11,466 Choices quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/choices/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The notion of the perfect whole, the ultimate solution in which all good things coexist, seems to me not merely unobtainable--that is a truism--but conceptually incoherent. …Some among the great goods cannot live together. That is a conceptual truth. We are doomed to choose, and every choice may entail an irreparable loss.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Isaiah Berlin" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaiah-berlin/the-notion-of-the-perfect-whole-the-ultimate-solution-in-which-all/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Choices" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaiah-berlin/the-notion-of-the-perfect-whole-the-ultimate-solution-in-which-all/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5c7/isaiah-berlin-10150_choices_the-notion-of-the-perfect-whole-the-ulti_2781976.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5c7/isaiah-berlin-10150_choices_the-notion-of-the-perfect-whole-the-ulti_2781976.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5c7/isaiah-berlin-10150_choices_the-notion-of-the-perfect-whole-the-ulti_2781976.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The notion of the perfect whole, the ultimate solution in which all good things coexist, seems to me not…” — Isaiah Berlin", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Isaiah Berlin", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaiah-berlin/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "The notion of the perfect whole,...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaiah-berlin/the-notion-of-the-perfect-whole-the-ultimate-solution-in-which-all/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaiah-berlin/the-notion-of-the-perfect-whole-the-ultimate-solution-in-which-all/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```