Heraclitus quotes

Bigotry is the sacred disease, and self-conceit tells lies.

Religion is a disease, but it is a noble disease.

The only constant in life is change

Wisdom consists in speaking and acting the truth.

What sense or thought do they have? They follow the popular singers, and they take the crowd as their teacher.

Under the comb, the tangle and the straight path are the same.

The majority of people have no understanding of the things with which they daily meet, nor, when instructed, do they have any right knowledge of them, although to themselves they seem to have.

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

Change alone is unchanging.

All things come out of the one, and the one out of all things.

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

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

Because it is so unbelievable, the Truth often escapes being known.

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

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

There is a stability in the Universe because of the orderly and balanced process of change, the same measure coming out as going in, as if reality were a huge fire that inhaled and exhaled equal amounts.

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

Presumption must be quenched even more than a fire.

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.

Wisdom is the oneness of mind that guides and permeated all things.

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.

Men that love wisdom must be acquainted with very many things indeed.

The unexpected connection is more powerful than one that is obvious.

For those who are awake, the Cosmos is One.

To God everything is beautiful, good, and just; humans, however, think some things are unjust and others just.

Justice will overtake fabricators of lies and false witnesses.

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.

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.

What was scattered, gathers. What was gathered, blows away

A dry soul is wisest and best.

If we do not expect the unexpected, we will never find it.

How can you hide from what never goes away?

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

It is wise to agree that all things are one.

Those who love wisdom must investigate many things

Big results require big ambitions.

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

It is harder to fight pleasure than to fight emotion.

War is the father and king of all: some he has made gods, and some men; some slaves and some free.

The best of men choose one thing in preference to all else, immortal glory in preference to mortal good; whereas the masses simply glut themselves like cattle.

There is nothing permanent except change.

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.

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

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

Everything changes and nothing stands still.

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

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

There is nothing permanent in the world except change.

Greater dooms win greater destinies.

Stupidity is better kept a secret than displayed.

All things flow, nothing abides. You cannot step into the same river twice, for the waters are continually flowing on. Nothing is permanent except change.

To God all things are beautiful, good, and right; human beings, on the other hand, deem some things right and others wrong. It would not be better if things happened to people just as they wish.

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

Even what those with the greatest reputation for knowing it all claim to understand and defend are but opinions.

Dogs bark at what they don't understand.

A hidden connection is stronger than an obvious one.

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

War is the mother of everything.

Learning many things does not teach understanding

It is better to conceal ignorance than to expose it.

Everything flows, nothing stays still.

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

The content of your #‎ character is your #‎ choice.

Men who wish to know about the world must learn about it in its particular details.

The universal cosmic process was not created by any god or man.

It is hard to contend against one's heart's desire; for whatever it wishes to have it buys at the cost of soul.

It is by disease that health is pleasant; by evil that good is pleasant; by hunger, satiety; by weariness, rest.

The sun is new each day.

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

When men dream, each has his own world. When they are awake, they have a common world.

Much learning does not teach sense.

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

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

I see nothing but Becoming. Be not deceived! It is the fault of your limited outlook and not the fault of the essence of things if you believe that you see firm land anywhere in the ocean of Becoming and Passing. You need names for things, just as if they had a rigid permanence, but the very river in which you bathe a second time is no longer the same one which you entered before

Even sleepers are workers and collaborators on what goes on in the universe.

Not I but the world says it: All is one.

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

Invisible harmony is better than visible.

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.

It would not be better if things happened to men just as they wish.

Man is on earth as in an egg.

All things come into being by conflict of opposites.

The world is nothing but a great desire to live and a great dissatisfaction with living.

Abundance of knowledge does not teach men to be wise.

Applicants for wisdom do what I have done: inquire within

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.

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

The world, an entity out of everything, was created by none of the gods or men, but was, is and will be eternally living fire, regularly becoming ignited and reg- ularly becoming extinguished.

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

A man's character is his fate.

It is in changing that things find purpose.

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

Knowledge is not intelligence.

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

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

Nature is wont to hide herself.

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.

Knowing many things doesn't teach insight.

Of the Logos which is as I describe it men always prove to be uncomprehending, both before they have heard it and when once they have heard it. For although all things happen according to this Logos, they [men] are like people of no experience, even when they experience such words and deeds as I explain, when I distinguish each thing according to its constitution and declare how it is; but the rest of men fail to notice what they do after they wake up just as they forget what they do when asleep.

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.

The fairest harmony springs from discord.

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

You cannot step into the same river twice.

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.

Eyes are more accurate witnesses than ears.

Time is a game played beautifully by children.

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

You cannot step twice into the same river.

This universe, which is the same for all, has not been made by any god or man, but it always has been, is, and will be an ever-living fire, kindling itself by regular measures and going out by regular measures.

Those who hear and do not understand are like the deaf. Of them the proverb says: "Present, they are absent."

Life has the name of life, but in reality it is death.

We have to be faster in calming down a resentment than putting out a fire, because the consequences of the first are infinitely more dangerous than the results of the last; fire ends burning down some houses at the most, while the resentment can cause cruel wars, with the ruin and total destruction of nations.

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

Things keep their secrets.

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

Nothing is, everything is becoming.

The people must fight for their laws as for their walls.

Dogs bark at a person whom they do not know.

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

You won't discover the limits of the soul, however far you go.

Those unmindful when they hear, for all they make of their intelligence, may be regarded as the walking dead.

Immortal mortals, mortal immortals, one living the others death and dying the others life.

Eyes and ears are poor witnesses to people if they have uncultured souls.

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