---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: By union the smallest states thrive. By…"
description: "\"By union the smallest states thrive. By discord the greatest are destroyed.\" — Sallust"
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bc7/sallust-4191_destroyed_by-union-the-smallest-states-thrive-by-d_402460.jpg"
---

#  By union the smallest states thrive. By discord the…

![“By union the smallest states thrive. By discord the greatest are destroyed.” quote by Sallust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bc7/sallust-4191_destroyed_by-union-the-smallest-states-thrive-by-d_402460.jpg)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bc7/sallust-4191_destroyed_by-union-the-smallest-states-thrive-by-d_402460.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bc7/sallust-4191_destroyed_by-union-the-smallest-states-thrive-by-d_402460.jpg)

> “By union the smallest states thrive. By discord the greatest are destroyed.”

[Sallust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sallust/)

## About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

When people work together, small groups succeed; conflict ruins even the strongest groups.

**In simple terms:** Collaboration helps; conflict harms.

Key Takeaway

Foster unity, avoid division.

Themes

cooperation conflict strength fragility

Mood

concerned determined

Type

advice philosophical

When to use this quote

- team projects
- community building
- family decisions
- national policy
- corporate strategy

Key Concepts

social dynamics political theory

Questions to Reflect On

- How can you build bridges in a divided environment?
- What safeguards prevent discord from escalating?

A Different Perspective

Even united groups can falter without clear purpose or leadership.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★   No ratings yet

[Discord](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/discord/)

## Related quotes

> [All your strength is in union, all your danger is in discord.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-wadsworth-longfellow/all-your-strength-is-in-union-all-your-danger-is-in-discord/)

[Henry Wadsworth Longfellow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-wadsworth-longfellow/)

> [Small communities grow great through harmony, great ones fall to pieces through discord.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sallust/small-communities-grow-great-through-harmony-great-ones-fall-to/)

[Sallust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sallust/)

> [Small endeavours obtain strength by unity of action: the most powerful are broken down by discord.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sallust/small-endeavours-obtain-strength-by-unity-of-action-the-most-powerful/)

[Sallust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sallust/)

> [For harmony makes small states great, while discord undermines the mightiest empires.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sallust/for-harmony-makes-small-states-great-while-discord-undermines-the/)

[Sallust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sallust/)

> [The scent organ was playing a delightfully refreshing Herbal Capriccio - rippling arpeggios of thyme and lavender, of rosemary, basil, myrtle, tarragon; a series…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aldous-huxley/the-scent-organ-was-playing-a-delightfully-refreshing-herbal/)

[Aldous Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aldous-huxley/)

> [Charity is the note that resolves the discord.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/austin-o-malley/charity-is-the-note-that-resolves-the-discord/)

[Austin O'Malley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/austin-o-malley/)

> [But the desire of obtaining the advantages, and of escaping the burthens, of political society, is a perpetual and inexhaustible source of discord; nor…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-gibbon/but-the-desire-of-obtaining-the-advantages-and-of-escaping-the/)

[Edward Gibbon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-gibbon/)

> [The leader is one who, out of the clutter, brings simplicity... out of discord, harmony... and out of difficulty, opportunity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-einstein/the-leader-is-one-who-out-of-the-clutter-brings-simplicity-out-of/)

[Albert Einstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-einstein/)

> [The fairest harmony springs from discord.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/heraclitus/the-fairest-harmony-springs-from-discord/)

[Heraclitus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/heraclitus/)

> [Discord or jealousy inhibits the ability of the Holy Ghost to teach us and inhibits our ability to receive light and truth. And the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-b-eyring/discord-or-jealousy-inhibits-the-ability-of-the-holy-ghost-to-teach/)

[Henry B. Eyring](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-b-eyring/)

> [we cannot break a law of eternal justice, however ignorantly, but throughout the entire universe will there be a jar of discord that will…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlotte-saunders-cushman/we-cannot-break-a-law-of-eternal-justice-however-ignorantly-but/)

[Charlotte Saunders Cushman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlotte-saunders-cushman/)

> [All of my work is meant to evoke a whole bunch of different layers of discord between the attraction and repulsion that we feel…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-jordan/all-of-my-work-is-meant-to-evoke-a-whole-bunch-of-different-layers-of/)

[Chris Jordan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-jordan/)

> [It is easy to speak words of love, or to meditate lovingly upon those people with whom you are in harmony. But it is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/catherine-ponder/it-is-easy-to-speak-words-of-love-or-to-meditate-lovingly-upon-those/)

[Catherine Ponder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/catherine-ponder/)

> [The world's history is a divine poem, of which the history of every nation is a canto, and every man a word. Its strains…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-a-garfield/the-world-s-history-is-a-divine-poem-of-which-the-history-of-every/)

[James A. Garfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-a-garfield/)

> [ That country \[Carthage\] was rapidly sinking into the state of barbarism from whence it had been raised by the Phoenician colonies and Roman laws;… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-gibbon/that-country-carthage-was-rapidly-sinking-into-the-state-of-barbarism/)

[Edward Gibbon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-gibbon/)

## More by Sallust

> [It is impossible that there should be so much providence in the last details, and none in the first principles. Then the arts of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sallust/it-is-impossible-that-there-should-be-so-much-providence-in-the-last/)

[Sallust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sallust/)

> [As the blessings of health and fortune have a beginning, so they must also find an end. Everything rises but to fall, and increases…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sallust/as-the-blessings-of-health-and-fortune-have-a-beginning-so-they-must/)

[Sallust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sallust/)

> [Everything that rises sets, and everything that grows, grows old.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sallust/everything-that-rises-sets-and-everything-that-grows-grows-old/)

[Sallust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sallust/)

> [Fame is the shadow of passion standing in the light](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sallust/fame-is-the-shadow-of-passion-standing-in-the-light/)

[Sallust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sallust/)

> [The Romans assisted their allies and friends, and acquired friendships by giving rather than receiving kindness. \[Lat., Sociis atque amicis auxilia portabant Romani, magisque…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sallust/the-romans-assisted-their-allies-and-friends-and-acquired-friendships/)

[Sallust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sallust/)

> [A good man prefers to suffer rather than overcome injustice with evil.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sallust/a-good-man-prefers-to-suffer-rather-than-overcome-injustice-with-evil/)

[Sallust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sallust/)

> [It is not unlikely, too, that the rejection of God is a kind of punishment: we may well believe that those who knew the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sallust/it-is-not-unlikely-too-that-the-rejection-of-god-is-a-kind-of/)

[Sallust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sallust/)

> [It is not only spirits who punish the evil, the soul brings itself to judgment: and also it is not right for those who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sallust/it-is-not-only-spirits-who-punish-the-evil-the-soul-brings-itself-to/)

[Sallust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sallust/)

> [To hope for safety in flight, when you have turned away from the enemy the arms by which the body is defended, is indeed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sallust/to-hope-for-safety-in-flight-when-you-have-turned-away-from-the-enemy/)

[Sallust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sallust/)

> [By the wicked the good conduct of others is always dreaded.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sallust/by-the-wicked-the-good-conduct-of-others-is-always-dreaded/)

[Sallust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sallust/)

> [Ambition drove many men to become false; to have one thought locked in the breast, another ready on the tongue.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sallust/ambition-drove-many-men-to-become-false-to-have-one-thought-locked-in/)

[Sallust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sallust/)

> [The soul is the captain and ruler of the life of morals.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sallust/the-soul-is-the-captain-and-ruler-of-the-life-of-morals/)

[Sallust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sallust/)

> [Not by vows nor by womanish prayers is the help of the gods obtained; success comes through vigilance, energy, wise counsel.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sallust/not-by-vows-nor-by-womanish-prayers-is-the-help-of-the-gods-obtained/)

[Sallust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sallust/)

> [ Enough words, little wisdom. \[Lat., Satis eloquentiae sapientiae parum.\] ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sallust/enough-words-little-wisdom-lat-satis-eloquentiae-sapientiae-parum/)

[Sallust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sallust/)

> [Fortune rules in all things, and advances and depresses things more out of her own will than right and justice.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sallust/fortune-rules-in-all-things-and-advances-and-depresses-things-more/)

[Sallust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sallust/)

[Explore all 115 Sallust quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sallust/)

## More Destroyed quotes

> [To refer even in passing to unpublished or struggling authors and their problems is to put oneself at some risk, so I will say…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kingsley-amis/to-refer-even-in-passing-to-unpublished-or-struggling-authors-and/)

[Kingsley Amis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kingsley-amis/)

> [Poetry fettered, fetters the human race. Nations are destroyed or flourish in proportion as their poetry, painting, and music are destroyed or flourish.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-blake/poetry-fettered-fetters-the-human-race-nations-are-destroyed-or/)

[William Blake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-blake/)

> [ Evil cannot be "treated" -- nor should it be. Evil has to \[be\] confronted and destroyed and it matters not why the evil is… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-o-reilly/evil-cannot-be-treated-nor-should-it-be-evil-has-to-be-confronted-and/)

[Bill O'Reilly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-o-reilly/)

> [You know, I often thought that the gangster and the artist are the same in the eyes of the masses. They're admired and hero-worshipped…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanley-kubrick/you-know-i-often-thought-that-the-gangster-and-the-artist-are-the/)

[Stanley Kubrick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanley-kubrick/)

> [They're criminals, they brutalized Afghanistan, they killed our people, they destroyed our land.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hamid-karzai/they-re-criminals-they-brutalized-afghanistan-they-killed-our-people/)

[Hamid Karzai](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hamid-karzai/)

> [To all conservative women out there: If you are so sure the embryo needed for stem cell research are precious human life that can't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-maher/to-all-conservative-women-out-there-if-you-are-so-sure-the-embryo/)

[Bill Maher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-maher/)

> [“My problem is that the human race seems to want to be destroyed!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jhonen-vasquez/my-problem-is-that-the-human-race-seems-to-want-to-be-destroyed/)

[Jhonen Vasquez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jhonen-vasquez/)

> [Wasn't Saddam destroyed? Wasn't Gaddafi liquidated? Didn't Milosevic go to the Hague? All true. But Stalin survived. Kim Jong-un isn't doing too badly, either…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-fisk/wasn-t-saddam-destroyed-wasn-t-gaddafi-liquidated-didn-t-milosevic-go/)

[Robert Fisk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-fisk/)

> [We all carry it within us: supreme strength, the fullness of wisdom, unquenchable joy. It is never thwarted, and cannot be destroyed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/huston-smith/we-all-carry-it-within-us-supreme-strength-the-fullness-of-wisdom/)

[Huston Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/huston-smith/)

> [Wars--and what is war except crime on a mass scale?--destroy rather than produce. The vandal that destroys a window causes not only the owner…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-young/wars-and-what-is-war-except-crime-on-a-mass-scale-destroy-rather-than/)

[Adam Young](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-young/)

> ['Johnny' was a coping mechanism who could take those things which could have ordinarily destroyed me, by tweaking my past and throwing it back…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johnny-vegas/johnny-was-a-coping-mechanism-who-could-take-those-things-which-could/)

[Johnny Vegas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johnny-vegas/)

> [Like Samson, I am ready to pull down the white man's temple, knowing full well that I will be destroyed by the falling rubble.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-x/like-samson-i-am-ready-to-pull-down-the-white-man-s-temple-knowing/)

[Malcolm X](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-x/)

> [Men will never rest till they've spoiled the earth and destroyed the animals.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-adams/men-will-never-rest-till-they-ve-spoiled-the-earth-and-destroyed-the/)

[Richard Adams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-adams/)

> [The triangle of truisms, of father, mother and child, cannot be destroyed; it can only destroy those civilizations which disregard it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-k-chesterton/the-triangle-of-truisms-of-father-mother-and-child-cannot-be/)

[Gilbert K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/)

> [If, in the opinion of the people, the distribution or modification of the constitutional powers be in any particular wrong, let it be corrected…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-washington/if-in-the-opinion-of-the-people-the-distribution-or-modification-of/)

[George Washington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-washington/)

Browse all 1,587 Destroyed quotes

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "Quotation",
            "text": "By union the smallest states thrive. By discord the greatest are destroyed.",
            "creator": {
                "@type": "Person",
                "name": "Sallust"
            },
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sallust/by-union-the-smallest-states-thrive-by-discord-the-greatest-are/",
            "about": {
                "@type": "Thing",
                "name": "Destroyed"
            },
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sallust/by-union-the-smallest-states-thrive-by-discord-the-greatest-are/#quotation",
            "image": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bc7/sallust-4191_destroyed_by-union-the-smallest-states-thrive-by-d_402460.jpg",
                "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bc7/sallust-4191_destroyed_by-union-the-smallest-states-thrive-by-d_402460.jpg",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bc7/sallust-4191_destroyed_by-union-the-smallest-states-thrive-by-d_402460.jpg",
                "width": 1080,
                "height": 1080,
                "caption": "“By union the smallest states thrive. By discord the greatest are destroyed.” — Sallust",
                "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": "Sallust",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sallust/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "By union the smallest states thrive....",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sallust/by-union-the-smallest-states-thrive-by-discord-the-greatest-are/"
                }
            ],
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sallust/by-union-the-smallest-states-thrive-by-discord-the-greatest-are/#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
            }
        }
    ]
}
```
