Meaning of "止めようと思って止まる"?


I have a quick question about a piece of dialogue I'm confused about:-

> 誰かが止めようと思って止まる程に小さな流れでもない

I think it probably translates to something like "It's not even a small set of
events someone can try to stop."

I read that 止める means "to stop something or someone", whereas 止まる means "to
stop" more generally, but if my translation is accurate, why is there​ a need
to use both 止める and 止まる in the same clause? My guess is "止めようと思って止まる" could be
an expression that has a broader meaning.

I hope someone can shed some light on this for me, thanks!




In fact, there are two clauses in 誰かが止めようと思って止まる, with て as the conjunctive.
止めよう and 止まる each are part of the separate clauses.

The preceding (subordinate) clause 誰かが止めようと思(う) consists of the subject 誰か
("somebody") and the verb phrase 止めようと思(う) ("tries to stop"), where the
implied object of 止める is the 流れ ("flow").

The conjunctive て in this case expresses cause-and-effect relationship, like
"because".

In the following (main) clause 止まる, there's an implicit subject of the verb
止まる, namely 流れ.

Putting it all together, 誰かが止めようと思って止まる can be translated to:

> the flow stops because somebody tries to stop it

If we join it with the rest of the sentence, the translation may look like
this:

> It is not so small a flow that it stops just because someone tries to stop
> it.

In case the translation is unclear, the sentence means that the flow (whatever
that refers to) is so forceful and overwhelming that some casual attempt by a
single person or a few people to stop it wouldn't remotely be able to match
it.

