Heraclitus quotes
Pre-Socratic philosopher of flux and the logos. Held that change is the only constant; strife is the father of all things.
24 passages across 9 themes. More on Heraclitus.
On change
“No man ever steps in the same river twice.”
“The only constant in life is change.”
“All human laws are nourished by one divine law.”
“The identity ...as consisting in difference is simply that of the primary substance in all its manifestations.”
“This theory is usually summed up... All things are flowing... though... it cannot be proved that this is a quotation from Herakleitos.”
“Aristotle says the same... All things are in motion, nothing steadfastly is.”
“The Milesians held a similar view. The flux of Herakleitos was at most more unceasing and universal.”
“It is much easier to find fragments which are on the face of them inconsistent with a general conflagration.”
On action
“Ten thousand do not turn the scale against a single man of worth.”
“Into the same rivers we step and do not step, we are and are not.”
“The part I understand is excellent, and so too is, I dare say, the part I do not understand; but it needs a Delian diver to get to the bottom of it.”
“Herakleitos looks down not only on the mass of men, but on all previous inquirers into nature.”
“Plato’s contrast between Herakleitos and Empedokles ...is ...that, while Herakleitos said the One was always many, and the Many always one, Empedokles said the All was many and one by turns.”
On character
“Character is destiny.”
“The many are mean; only the few are noble.”
On mind
“Although the Law of Reason is common, the majority of people live as though they had an understanding of their own.”
“Men are at variance with the one thing with which they are in the most unbroken communion, the reason that administers the whole universe.”
On presence
“Change is the only constant. There is nothing permanent except change.”
“The living and the dead are always changing places (fr. 78)... not only to the souls that have become water, but to those that have become fire and are now guardian spirits.”
On death
“The soul that has died from excess of moisture sinks down to earth; but from the earth comes water, and from water is once more exhaled a soul (fr. 68).”
“Everything is... the death of something else (fr. 64).”
On purpose
“Big results require big ambitions.”
On self-mastery
“It pertains to all men to know themselves and to learn self-control.”
On truth
“Αll things are exchanged for fire and fire for all things (fr. 22), and this implies that for everything it takes, fire will give as much. The sun will not exceed his measures (fr. 29).”