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Quotes of Heraclitus
Heraclitus of Ephesus (ca. 535–475 BCE), known as "The Obscure" was a pre-Socratic Ionian philosopher, a native of Ephesus on the coast of Asia Minor (Present day Turkey, Efes). His father was named Bloson. Any further details of his life remain shrouded in antiquity, as none of his commentators suggest any details of his life. Heraclitus was the first person in the Western world to create a robust philosophical system. His writings influenced the thought of Socrates, Plato, and modern process philosophy.
- A man's character is his fate.
- A man's character is his guardian divinity.
- Big results require big ambitions.
- Bigotry is the sacred disease.
- Change alone is unchanging.
- Character is destiny.
- Corpses are more fit to be thrown out than is dung.
- Couples are wholes and not wholes, what agrees disagrees, the concordant is discordant. From all things one and from one all things.
- Deliberate violence is more to be quenched than a fire.
- Even sleepers are workers and collaborators in what goes on in the Universe.
- Even sleepers are workers and collaborators on what goes on in the universe.
- Eyes and ears are poor witnesses to people if they have uncultured souls.
- God is day and night, winter and summer, war and peace, surfeit and hunger.
- 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.
- Hide our ignorance as we will, an evening of wine soon reveals it.
- I am what libraries and librarians have made me, with little assistance from a professor of Greek and poets.
- If you do not the expect the unexpected you will not find it, for it is not to be reached by search or trail.
- It is hard to contend against one's heart's desire; for whatever it wishes to have it buys at the cost of soul.
- Justice will overtake fabricators of lies and false witnesses.
- Man is most nearly himself when he achieves the seriousness of a child at play.
- Men who wish to know about the world must learn about it in its particular details.
- Much learning does not teach understanding.
- Nature is wont to hide herself.
- No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man.
- No one that encounters prosperity does not also encounter danger.
- Nothing endures but change.
- Opposition brings concord. Out of discord comes the fairest harmony.
- Our envy always lasts longer than the happiness of those we envy.
- The best people renounce all for one goal, the eternal fame of mortals; but most people stuff themselves like cattle.
- The chain of wedlock is so heavy that it takes two to carry it - and sometimes three.
- The eyes are more exact witnesses than the ears.
- The sun is new each day.
- The way up and the way down are one and the same.
- There is nothing permanent except change.
- To do the same thing over and over again is not only boredom: it is to be controlled by rather than to control what you do.
- To God everything is beautiful, good, and just; humans, however, think some things are unjust and others just.
- You cannot step into the same river twice.
- You cannot step twice into the same river; for other waters are continually flowing in.
- You could not step twice into the same rivers; for other waters are ever flowing on to you.