Quotes by Heraclitus

Nothing endures but change.

There is nothing permanent except change.

Men that love wisdom must be acquainted with very many things indeed.

It is in changing that we find purpose.

Man is most nearly himself when he achieves the seriousness of a child at play.

Much learning does not teach understanding.

A man's character is his fate.

One cannot step twice in the same river.

The Lord whose oracle is at Delphi neither reveals nor conceals, but gives a sign.

Out of every one hundred men, ten shouldn't even be there, eighty are just targets, nine are the real fighters, and we are lucky to have them, for they make the battle. Ah, but the one, one is a warrior, and he will bring the others back.

Learning many things does not teach understanding.

To get everything you want is not a good thing. Disease makes health seem sweet. Hunger leads to the appreciation of being full-fed. Tiredness creates the enjoyment of resting.

Those who love wisdom must investigate many things.

Those who are awake all live in the same world. Those who are asleep live in their own worlds.

To fight with desire is hard: whatever it wishes it buys at the price of a soul.

If they are gods, why do you lament them? If you lament them, you must no longer regard them as gods.

Everything changes and nothing stands still.

There is but one world common for those who are awake, but when men are asleep, each turns away into a world of his own.

If one does not expect the unexpected, one will not find it out, since it is not to be searched out, and difficut to compass.

The only constant in life is change.

Any day stands
equal to the rest.

Fire lives in the death of earth, air lives in the death of fire, water lives in the death of air, and earth in the death of water.

People do not know how what is at variance agrees with itself. It is an attunement of opposite tensions, like that of the bow and the lyre.

The Sibyl, with frenzied mouth uttering things not to be laughed at, unadorned and unperfumed, yet reaches to a thousand years with her voice by aid of the god.

The unexpected connection is more powerful than one that is obvious.

Life has the name of life, but in reality it is death.

How can you hide from what never goes away?

The unlike is joined together, and from differences results the most beautiful harmony.

You cannot step twice into the same river.

To me one man is worth ten thousand if he is first-rate.

Even a soul submerged in sleep
is hard at work and helps
make something of the world.

The fairest order in the world is a heap of random sweepings.

If we do not expect the unexpected, we will never find it.

The waking have one common world, but the sleeping turn aside each into a world of his own.

Eyes are more accurate witnesses than ears.

Thinking is a sacred disease and sight is deceptive.

Without injustices,
the name of justice
would mean what?

Those who approach life like a child playing a game, moving and pushing pieces, possess the power of kings.

The people must fight on behalf of the law as though for the city wall.

A drunk man, staggering and mindless, must be led home by his son, so wet is his psyche... Water brings death to the psyche, as earth brings death to water... The psyche lusts to be wet.

And some men are as ignorant of what they do when awake as they are forgetful of what they do when asleep.

A hidden connection is stronger than an obvious one.

Knowledge of divine things for the most part is lost to us by incredulity.

Men who are lovers of wisdom i.e., philosophers must be inquirers into many things.

Immortal mortals, mortal immortals, one living the others death and dying the others life.

Men who love wisdom should acquaint themselves with a great many particulars.

Many who have learned
from Hesiod the countless names
of gods and monsters
never understand
that night and day are one.

There is a stability in the Universe because of the orderly and balanced process of change, the same measure coming out as going in, as if reality were a huge fire that inhaled and exhaled equal amounts.

The phases of fire are craving and satiety.

The sun is the width of a human foot.

Always having what we want
may not be the best good fortune
Health seems sweetest
after sickness, food
in hunger, goodness
in the wake of evil, and at the end
of daylong labor sleep.

For when is death not within our selves? And as Heracleitus says: Living and dead are the same, and so are awake and asleep, young and old. The former when shifted are the latter, and again the latter when shifted are the former.

Knowing many things doesn't teach insight.

Lifetime is a child at play, moving pieces in a game. Kingship belongs to the child.

One thunderbolt strikes
root through everything.

He who hears not me but the logos will say: All is one.

If you do not hope, you will not win that which is not hoped for, since it is unattainable and inaccessible.

Presumption must be quenched even more than a fire.

Give me one man
from among ten thousand
if he is the best.

One must realize that war is common, and justice strife, and that all things come to be through strife and are so ordained.

Realize that war is common and justice is strife, and that all things come into being and pass away through strife.

Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow.
Nothing endures but change.

It is by disease that health is pleasant; by evil that good is pleasant; by hunger, satiety; by weariness, rest.

Whoever cannot seek the unforeseen sees nothing for the known way is an impasse.

The wise is one only. It is unwilling and willing to be called by the name of Zeus.

Eternity is a child playing, playing checkers; the kingdom belongs to a child.

All things flow, nothing abides. You cannot step into the same river twice, for the waters are continually flowing on. Nothing is permanent except change.

The river where you set your foot just now is gone-those waters give way to this, now this.

There is harmony in the tension of opposites, as in the case of the bow and lyre.

The content of your character is your choice. Day by day, what you choose, what you think and what you do is who you become.

The fairest harmony springs from discord.

Everything flows and nothing abides. Everything gives way and nothing stays fixed.

Silence, healing.

Character is destiny.

The sun is new each day.

To be evenminded is the greatest virtue.

If you do not the expect the unexpected you will not find it, for it is not to be reached by search or trail.

I am what libraries and librarians have made me, with little assistance from a professor of Greek and poets.

Deliberate violence is more to be quenched than a fire.

Couples are wholes and not wholes, what agrees disagrees, the concordant is discordant. From all things one and from one all things.

Justice will overtake fabricators of lies and false witnesses.

No one that encounters prosperity does not also encounter danger.

To God everything is beautiful, good, and just; humans, however, think some things are unjust and others just.

The eyes are more exact witnesses than the ears.

The hidden harmony is better than the obvious.

Big results require big ambitions.

Men who wish to know about the world must learn about it in its particular details.

A man's character is his guardian divinity.

Good character is not formed in a week or a month. It is created little by little, day by day. Protracted and patient effort is needed to develop good character.

No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man.

Opposition brings concord. Out of discord comes the fairest harmony.