Heraclitus Quotes

“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.”

“We circle in the night and we are devoured by fire.”

“This universe, which is the same for all, has not been made by any god or man, but it always has been, is, and will be an ever-living fire, kindling itself by regular measures and going out by regular measures.”

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

“Under the comb, the tangle and the straight path are the same.”

“We have to be faster in calming down a resentment than putting out a fire, because the consequences of the first are infinitely more dangerous than the results of the last; fire ends burning down some houses at the most, while the resentment can cause cruel wars, with the ruin and total destruction of nations.”

“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 only thing that is constant is change.”

“Ever-newer waters flow on those who step into the same rivers.”

“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.”

“Deliberate violence is more to be quenched than a fire”

“Whosoever wishes to know about the world must learn about it in its particular details. Knowledge is not intelligence. In searching for the truth be ready for the unexpected. Change alone is unchanging. The same road goes both up and down. The beginning of a circle is also its end. Not I, but the world says it: all is one. And yet everything comes in season.”

“The world is nothing but a great desire to live and a great dissatisfaction with living.”

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

“Everything changes but change itself. Everything flows and nothing remains the same... You cannot step twice into the same river, for other waters and yet others go flowing ever on.”

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

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

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

“The best people renounce all for one goal, the eternal fame of mortals; but most people stuff themselves like cattle.”

“The way up and the way down are one and the same.”

“To be evenmindedis the greatest virtue.Wisdom is to speakthe truth and actin keeping with its nature.”

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

“Abundance of knowledge does not teach men to be wise.”

“Could you tell night from day? No, I regard all such distinctions as logically impossible.”

“What was scattered, gathers.What was gathered, blows away”

“Nothing is, everything is becoming.”

“No one can step twice into the same river, nor touch mortal substance twice in the same condition. By the speed of its change, it scatters and gathers again.”

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

“The only constant is change. Unless you get a small group of neighbors together to stop it.”

“Much learning does not teach understanding.”

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

“One must know that war is common, justice is strife, and everything happens according to strife and necessity.”

“Everything changes and nothing stands still.”

“Day by day, what you do is who you become.”

“Time is a game played beautifully by children.”

“Wisdom is one thing, to know how to make true judgment, how all things are steered through all things.”

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

“I see nothing but Becoming. Be not deceived! It is the fault of your limited outlook and not the fault of the essence of things if you believe that you see firm land anywhere in the ocean of Becoming and Passing. You need names for things, just as if they had a rigid permanence, but the very river in which you bathe a second time is no longer the same one which you entered before”

“Things keep their secrets.”

“Though wisdom is common, yet the many live as if they had a wisdom of their own.”

“Where there is no strife there is decay: 'The mixture which is not shaken decomposes.'”

“Presumption must be quenched even more than a fire.”

“For those who are awake, the Cosmos is One.”

“Even sleepers are workers and collaborators on what goes on in the universe.”

“Things of which there is sight, hearing, apprehension, these I prefer.”

“The nature of things is in the habit of concealing itself.”

“The results are in great need greater ambition.”

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

“What sense or thought do they have? They follow the popular singers, and they take the crowd as their teacher.”

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