Inspirational Quotes by Heraclitus (Ancient Greek Philosopher)

Heraclitus (c.535–c.475 BCE,) also spelled Heracleitus and Herakleitos, was a Pre-Socratic Greek philosopher. He is remembered for his cosmology, in which fire forms the basic material principle of an orderly universe.

Born in the Ionian city of Ephesus, Anatolia, now Selçuk in Turkey, into one of the aristocratic families of Ephesus, Heraclitus rejected the political privileges for a life of a misanthropic recluse, living alone in the mountains, eating plants and grass. Little is known about his life—he was known throughout the ancient world as “the Obscure” (“skoteinos.”)

Heraclitus believed that the apparent, unchanging face of the universe veiled a dynamic balance wherein all things were continuously changing, but with opposites preserving the balance—health and disease, good and evil, hot and cold, for example. The fundamental substance uniting all things was fire.

Heraclitus is important as one of the first Greek philosophers to engage in the problem of knowledge, and he is undoubtedly the first to emphasize the importance of an understanding of the soul as a step toward understanding the world order.

The one book Heraclitus wrote is lost. His philosophy survives in the short fragments quoted and attributed to him by later authors. These writings provided much of the theoretical foundation for Stoic philosophy.

More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Heraclitus

Dogs bark at a person whom they do not know.
—Heraclitus
Topics: Prejudice

Much learning does not teach understanding.
—Heraclitus
Topics: Understanding, Learning, Education

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

Opposition brings concord. Out of discord comes the fairest harmony.
—Heraclitus
Topics: Opposition, Harmony

There is nothing permanent except change.
—Heraclitus
Topics: Change

It is better to hide ignorance, but it is hard to do this when we relax over wine.
—Heraclitus
Topics: Wine

Everything flows, nothing stays still.
—Heraclitus
Topics: Moving on, Change

Much knowledge of divine things is lost to us through want of faith.
—Heraclitus
Topics: Faith

No one that encounters prosperity does not also encounter danger.
—Heraclitus
Topics: Danger

Immortal mortals, mortal immortals, one living the others death and dying the others life.
—Heraclitus
Topics: Immortality

Men who wish to know about the world must learn about it in its particular details.
—Heraclitus
Topics: Facts

Bigotry is the sacred disease.
—Heraclitus
Topics: Prejudice

No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.
—Heraclitus
Topics: Change, Wisdom

A hidden connection is stronger than an obvious one.
—Heraclitus
Topics: Philosophy

Stupidity is better kept a secret than displayed.
—Heraclitus
Topics: Stupidity

Nothing is permanent but change.
—Heraclitus
Topics: Change

Change alone is unchanging.
—Heraclitus
Topics: Change

The unlike is joined together, and from differences results the most beautiful harmony.
—Heraclitus
Topics: Harmony

Applicants for wisdom, do what I have done: Inquire within.
—Heraclitus
Topics: Wisdom

If you do not the expect the unexpected you will not find it, for it is not to be reached by search or trail.
—Heraclitus
Topics: Expectation

God is day and night, winter and summer, war and peace, surfeit and hunger.
—Heraclitus
Topics: God

Man is most nearly himself when he achieves the seriousness of a child at play.
—Heraclitus

Much knowledge of divine things is lost to us through want of faith.
—Heraclitus

Religion is a disease, but it is a noble disease.
—Heraclitus
Topics: Religion

Better to be one sided than two faced. Man’s character is his fate.
—Heraclitus
Topics: Character

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 do is who you become. Your integrity is your destiny – it is the light that guides your way.
—Heraclitus
Topics: Integrity, Wisdom, Principles, Character, Destiny

Even sleepers are workers and collaborators on what goes on in the universe.
—Heraclitus
Topics: Sleep

It is in changing that things find purpose.
—Heraclitus
Topics: Change

A man’s character is his guardian divinity.
—Heraclitus
Topics: Character

Nature loves to hide.
—Heraclitus

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Inspirational Quotes by Heraclitus (Ancient Greek Philosopher)

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