For infinitely various are the incidents in one man's life which cannot be reduced to unity; and so, too, there are many actions of one man out of which we cannot make one action.
 Aristotle, Poetics (c. 335 BC). copy citation

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Author Aristotle
Source Poetics
Topic unity action
Date c. 335 BC
Language English
Reference
Note Translated by S. H. Butcher
Weblink http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1974/1974-h/1974-h.htm

Context

“And to define the matter roughly, we may say that the proper magnitude is comprised within such limits, that the sequence of events, according to the law of probability or necessity, will admit of a change from bad fortune to good, or from good fortune to bad. VIII Unity of plot does not, as some persons think, consist in the Unity of the hero. For infinitely various are the incidents in one man's life which cannot be reduced to unity; and so, too, there are many actions of one man out of which we cannot make one action. Hence, the error, as it appears, of all poets who have composed a Heracleid, a Theseid, or other poems of the kind. They imagine that as Heracles was one man, the story of Heracles must also be a unity.” source