Heraclitus Quotes

Presumption must be quenched even more than a fire.

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

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

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

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

The only constant is change.

The Cosmos was not made by gods but always was and is eternal fire.

All entities move and nothing remains still.

To God all things are beautiful and good and just.

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

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

Nothing is, everything is becoming.

There is exchange of all things for fire and of fire for all things, as there is of wares for gold and of gold for wares.

Stupidity is better kept a secret than displayed.

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.

Much learning does not teach sense.

All things are in flux; the flux is subject to a unifying measure or rational principle. This principle (logos, the hidden harmony behind all change) bound opposites together in a unified tension, which is like that of a lyre, where a stable harmonious sound emerges from the tension of the opposing forces that arise from the bow bound together by the string.

If you do not expect the unexpected, you will not recognize it when it arrives.

Our envy always lasts longer than the happiness of those we envy.

The opposite is beneficial; from things that differ comes the fairest attunement; all things are born through strife.

No one that encounters prosperity does not also encounter danger.

Time is a child playing with droughts. The lordship is to the child.

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.

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

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

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

The soul is dyed the color of its thoughts. Think only on those things that are in line with your principles and can bear the light of day. 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. Your integrity is your destiny ... it is the light that guides your way.

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

It is harder to fight pleasure than to fight emotion.

Everything changes and nothing stands still.

No same man could walk through the same river twice, as the man and the river have since changed.

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

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

Doctors cut, burn, and torture the sick, and then demand of them an undeserved fee for such services.

It is wise to listen, not to me but to the Word, and to confess that all things are one.

Everything flows and nothing abides; everything gives way and nothing stays fixed... Cool things become warm, the warm grows cool; the moist dries, the parched becomes moist... It is in changing that things find repose.

Change is the only constant.

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

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

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

Dogs, also, bark at what they do not know.

From out of all the many particulars comes oneness, and out of oneness come all the many particulars.

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

All men have the capacity of knowing themselves and acting with moderation.

There is nothing permanent except change. [Therefore enjoy what good you have while you have it and endure and outlast what bad you can't cure immediately]

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 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.

Things keep their secrets.