Best Heraclitus Quotes
Heraclitus Quotes About Change, War, Goals, Victory, In Greek, River, Character, Life, Society, Inspirational & Everything Flows! The pre-Socratic Greek philosopher Heraclitus was part of the Persian Empire and grew up in Ephesus throughout his lifetime. Heraclitus was born in the year 535 BC. He saw himself as a self-taught genius and a pioneer of knowledge, and there is nothing more known about his early life and educational background. Because of his reputation as a depressed misanthrope, everyone called him “the crying philosopher,” as opposed to Democritus, the ancient Greek philosopher regarded as “the laughing philosopher.”
He has been known as “The Obscure” throughout history for his contradictory worldview and love of wordplay and cryptic language. Only pieces of a single work he produced add to the mystique surrounding his name and legacy. Then, there are a lot of different ideas about Heraclitus.
Heraclitus thought that the universe is in agreement with Logos (which may be read as “speech,” “reason,” or “account”) and that it is ultimately composed of fire. He also believed in the unity of opposites and the universe’s equilibrium. His use of fire may be a metaphor for transformation. This evolving feature of his philosophy contrasts with that of the Greek philosopher Parmenides, who believes in the concept of “being” and the unchanging state of the cosmos. Both Heraclitus and Parmenides had an impact on Plato, who in turn affected the rest of Western philosophy. His death occurred in 475 B.C. He was a “conventional thinker and an anti-intellectual obscurantist.” He was the first genuine philosopher, and he did not like intellectual terminology.
Best Heraclitus Quotes
1. “Much learning does not teach understanding.” – Heraclitus
2. “No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.” – Heraclitus
3. “The eyes are more exact witnesses than the ears.” – Heraclitus
4. “There is nothing permanent except change.” – Heraclitus
5. “The hidden harmony is better than the obvious.” – Heraclitus
6. “The way up and the way down are one and the same.” – Heraclitus
7. “How can you hide from what never goes away?” – Heraclitus
8. “The soul is dyed the color of its thoughts.” – Heraclitus
9. “All things come into being by conflict of opposites.” – Heraclitus
10. “What was scattered gathers. What was gathered blows away.” – Heraclitus
11. “Dogs bark at what they don’t understand.” – Heraclitus
12. “No one that encounters prosperity does not also encounter danger.” – Heraclitus
13. “History is a child building a sandcastle by the sea, and that child is the whole majesty of man’s power in the world.” – Heraclitus
14. “The soul is undiscovered though explored forever to a depth beyond report.” – Heraclitus
15. “Tis not too late to seek a newer world.” – Heraclitus
16. “Any day stands equal to the rest.” – Heraclitus
17. “The sun is new each day.” – Heraclitus
18. “If you do not expect the unexpected you will not find it, for it is not to be reached by search or trail.” – Heraclitus
19. “Big results require big ambitions.” – Heraclitus
20. “One thunderbolt strikes root through everything.” – Heraclitus
21. “Opposition brings concord. Out of discord comes the fairest harmony.” – Heraclitus
22. “Deliberate violence is more to be quenched than a fire.” – Heraclitus
23. “People ought to fight to keep their law as to defend the city’s walls.” – Heraclitus
24. “Without injustices, the name of justice would mean what?” – Heraclitus
25. “Realize that war is common and justice is strife, and that all things come into being and pass away through strife.” – Heraclitus
26. “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.” – Heraclitus
27. “I am what libraries and librarians have made me, with little assistance from a professor of Greek and poets.” – Heraclitus
28. “Justice will overtake fabricators of lies and false witnesses.” – Heraclitus
29. “Hide our ignorance as we will, an evening of wine soon reveals it.” – Heraclitus
30. “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.” – Heraclitus
31. “Life has the name of life, but in reality it is death.” – Heraclitus
32. “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.” – Heraclitus
33. “Character is destiny.” – Heraclitus
34. “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.” – Heraclitus
35. “Even sleepers are workers and collaborators in what goes on in the Universe.” – Heraclitus