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
It is better to hide ignorance, but it is hard to do this when we relax over wine.
—Heraclitus
Topics: Wine
We are most nearly ourselves when we achieve the seriousness of the child at play.
—Heraclitus
Topics: Achieve, Accomplishment
Corpses are more fit to be thrown out than is dung.
—Heraclitus
Topics: Death
Much knowledge of divine things is lost to us through want of faith.
—Heraclitus
Topics: Faith
The unlike is joined together, and from differences results the most beautiful harmony.
—Heraclitus
Topics: Harmony
Character is destiny.
—Heraclitus
Topics: Character
Nature loves to hide.
—Heraclitus
Immortal mortals, mortal immortals, one living the others death and dying the others life.
—Heraclitus
Topics: Immortality
Stupidity is better kept a secret than displayed.
—Heraclitus
Topics: Stupidity
Nothing endures but change.
—Heraclitus
Topics: Change
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
Better to be one sided than two faced. Man’s character is his fate.
—Heraclitus
Topics: Character
Eyes and ears are bad witnesses for men who have barbarian souls.
—Heraclitus
Nothing is permanent but change.
—Heraclitus
Topics: Change
Applicants for wisdom, do what I have done: Inquire within.
—Heraclitus
Topics: Wisdom
Everything flows, nothing stays still.
—Heraclitus
Topics: Change, Moving on
Much learning does not teach understanding.
—Heraclitus
Topics: Understanding, Education, Learning
The sun is new each day.
—Heraclitus
A man’s character is his guardian divinity.
—Heraclitus
Topics: Character
There is nothing permanent except change.
—Heraclitus
Topics: Change
Religion is a disease, but it is a noble disease.
—Heraclitus
Topics: Religion
A hidden connection is stronger than an obvious one.
—Heraclitus
Topics: Philosophy
Character is our destiny.
—Heraclitus
Topics: Character
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
Even sleepers are workers and collaborators on what goes on in the universe.
—Heraclitus
Topics: Sleep
Opposition brings concord. Out of discord comes the fairest harmony.
—Heraclitus
Topics: Harmony, Opposition
Change alone is unchanging.
—Heraclitus
Topics: Change
No one that encounters prosperity does not also encounter danger.
—Heraclitus
Topics: Danger
Men who wish to know about the world must learn about it in its particular details.
—Heraclitus
Topics: Facts
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: Wisdom, Character, Integrity, Principles, Destiny
It is in changing that things find purpose.
—Heraclitus
Topics: Change
God is day and night, winter and summer, war and peace, surfeit and hunger.
—Heraclitus
Topics: God
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
Topics: Bores, Boredom
Everything flows and nothing abides, everything gives way and nothing stays fixed.
—Heraclitus
Topics: Change
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.
—Heraclitus
Topics: Reflection, Past, Change, Water, Opportunity
It would not be better if things happened to men just as they wish.
—Heraclitus
Topics: Adversity
Dogs bark at a person whom they do not know.
—Heraclitus
Topics: Prejudice
Eyes are more accurate witnesses than ears
—Heraclitus
Topics: Eyes
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
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