Wisdom of Heraclitus

Heraclitus (500 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher. He influenced ancient and modern Western philosophy, through Plato, Hegel, Aristotle, Heidegger, and others.

The main ideas of his philosophy are the unity of opposites and the concept of change.

Below we list some words of wisdom from Heraclitus.

"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."

"There is nothing permanent except change."

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

"Stupidity is better kept a secret than displayed."

"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."

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

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

"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."

"Abundance of knowledge does not teach men to be wise."

"Dogs bark at what they don't understand."

"Nothing is, everything is becoming."

"Big results require big ambitions."

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

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

"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"

"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."

"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."

"A man's character is his fate."

"Learning many things does not teach understanding"

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

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

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

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

"A hidden connection is stronger than an obvious one."

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

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

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

"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."

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

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

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

"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."

"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."

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

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

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

"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"

"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."

"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."

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