The infinitely small, in other words the element, is the source and the goal, the substance and the reason of all things

If the infinitesimal differed from the infinite only by degree, if at the basis of things as at their perceptible surface there existed only positions, distances, and displacements, why would a displacement which is inconceivable in the infinite realm change its nature in becoming infinitesimal? The infinitesimal, therefore, is qualitatively different from the infinite; movement has a cause distinct from itself; being is not exhausted by what appears in phenomena.

          Gabriel de Tarde, Monadology and Sociology. Edited and translated by Theo Lorenc.Victoria, Australia: re-press.