Heraclitus of Ephesus son of Bloson, was a pre-Socratic Ionian Greek philosopher. Due to the oracular and paradoxical nature of his philosophy, and his fondness for word play, he was called “The Obscure” even in antiquity. Profoundly inspirational Heraclitus quotes will encourage you to think a little deeper than you usually would and broaden your perspective.
If you’re searching for deep quotes by philosophers that perfectly capture what you’d like to say or just want to feel inspired yourself, browse through an amazing collection of profound John Stuart Mill quotes, amazing John Locke quotes and top Karl Marx quotes.
Famous 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.
I am what libraries and librarians have made me, with little assistance from a professor of Greek and poets.
Stupidity is doomed, therefore, to cringe at every syllable of wisdom.
Time is a game played beautifully by children.
Wisdom is the oneness of mind that guides and permeates all things.
Any day stands equal to the rest.
The hidden harmony is better than the obvious.
People ought to fight to keep their law as to defend the city’s walls.
Fire lives in the death of earth, air lives in the death of fire, water lives in the death of air, and earth in the death of water.
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.
The world is nothing but a great desire to live and a great dissatisfaction with living.
Everything flows and nothing abides; everything gives way and nothing stays fixed.
Realize that war is common and justice is strife, and that all things come into being and pass away through strife.
Hide our ignorance as we will, an evening of wine soon reveals it.
Character is destiny.
Couples are wholes and not wholes, what agrees disagrees, the concordant is discordant. From all things one and from one all things.
Life has the name of life, but in reality it is death.
Big results require big ambitions.
To God everything is beautiful, good, and just; humans, however, think some things are unjust and others just.
The chain of wedlock is so heavy that it takes two to carry it – and sometimes three.
All things come into being by conflict of opposites.
To fight with desire is hard: whatever it wishes it buys at the price of a soul.
Even a soul submerged in sleep is hard at work and helps make something of the world.
Dogs bark at what they don’t understand.
Thinking is a sacred disease and sight is deceptive.
What are men? Mortal gods. What are gods? Immortal men.
Everything changes and nothing stands still.
Inspirational Heraclitus Quotes
No one that encounters prosperity does not also encounter danger.
The awake share a common world, but the asleep turn aside into private worlds.
You cannot step into the same river twice.
Man’s character is his fate.
What was scattered gathers. What was gathered blows away.
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.
26. 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 be evenminded is the greatest virtue. Wisdom is to speak the truth and act in keeping with its nature.
If they are gods, why do you lament them? If you lament them, you must no longer regard them as gods.
A fool is excited by every word.
Opposition brings concord. Out of discord comes the fairest harmony.
Without injustices, the name of justice would mean what?
Whoever cannot seek the unforeseen sees nothing for the known way is an impasse.
Tis not too late to seek a newer world.
There is nothing permanent except change.
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.
Deliberate violence is more to be quenched than a fire.
History is a child building a sandcastle by the sea, and that child is the whole majesty of man’s power in the world.
Men who wish to know about the world must learn about it in its particular details.
The eyes are more exact witnesses than the ears.
The way up and the way down are one and the same.
The sun is new each day.
If you do not expect the unexpected you will not find it, for it is not to be reached by search or trail.
Justice will overtake fabricators of lies and false witnesses.
One thunderbolt strikes root through everything.
The soul is dyed the color of its thoughts.
The soul is undiscovered though explored forever to a depth beyond report.
Much learning does not teach understanding.
Even sleepers are workers and collaborators in what goes on in the Universe.
How can you hide from what never goes away?
We are most nearly ourselves when we achieve the seriousness of the child at play.
Men forget where the way leads and what they meet with every day seems strange to them. We should not act and speak like men asleep.
