Heraclitus Quotes

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

— Heraclitus

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

— Heraclitus

“To be evenminded
is the greatest virtue.
Wisdom is to speak
the truth and act
in keeping with its nature.”

— Heraclitus

“Thinking is a sacred disease and sight is deceptive.”

— Heraclitus

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

— Heraclitus

“The poet was a fool
who wanted no conflict
among us, gods
or people.
Harmony needs
low and high,
as progeny needs
man and woman.”

— Heraclitus

“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”

— Heraclitus

“What are men? Mortal gods.
What are gods? Immortal men.”

— Heraclitus

The sun is the width of a human foot.

— Heraclitus

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

— Heraclitus

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

— Heraclitus

Dog bark at what they don't understand.

— Heraclitus

Everything flows and nothing stays.

— Heraclitus

“The living and the dead,
The awake and the sleeping,
The young and the old are all one and the same.
When the ones change, they become the others.
When those shift again, they become these again.
God is day and night.
God is winter and summer.
God is war and peace.
God is fertility and famine.
He transforms into many things.
Day and night are one.
Goodness and badness are one.
The beginning and the end of a circle are one.”

— Heraclitus

“Aion is a child at play, playing draughts; the kingship is a child's.”

— Heraclitus

War is father of all, and king of all. He renders some gods, others men; he makes some slaves, others free.

— Heraclitus

You will not discover the limits of the soul
by traveling, even if you wander over every
conceivable path, so deep is its story.

— Heraclitus

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

— Heraclitus

“Corpses are more fit to be thrown out than is dung.”

— Heraclitus

“The most beautiful ape is ugly when compared to a human. The wisest human will seem like an ape when compared to a god with respect to wisdom, beauty, and everything else.”

— Heraclitus

“What is divine escapes men's notice because of their incredulity.”

— Heraclitus

“It is better to hide ignorance, but it is hard to do this when we relax over wine.”

— Heraclitus

“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.”

— Heraclitus

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

— Heraclitus

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

— Heraclitus

“Man is on earth as in an egg.”

— Heraclitus

“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.”

— Heraclitus

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

— Heraclitus

“All things are in a state of flux.”

— Heraclitus

“There is nothing peranent except change.”

— Heraclitus

“If it were not for injustice, men would not know justice.”

— Heraclitus

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

— Heraclitus

“War is the father of all things.”

— Heraclitus

“May you have plenty of wealth, you men of Ephesus, in order that you may be punished for your evil ways”

— Heraclitus

“Most people do not take heed of the things they encounter, nor do they grasp them even when they have learned about them, although they suppose they do.”

— Heraclitus

“Nature is accustomed to hide itself.”

— Heraclitus

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

— Heraclitus

“It is difficult to fight against anger; for a man will buy revenge with his soul.”

— Heraclitus

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

— Heraclitus

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

— Heraclitus

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

— Heraclitus

“Man, like a light in the night, is kindled and put out.”

— Heraclitus

“You may travel far and wide but never will you find the boundaries of the soul.”

— Heraclitus

“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.”

— Heraclitus

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

— Heraclitus

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

— Heraclitus

“Nothing is constant except change”

— Heraclitus

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

— Heraclitus

The only constant in life is change

— Heraclitus

“It is harder to fight pleasure than to fight emotion.”

— Heraclitus