The 35 Best Phrases Of Heraclitus, The Greek Philosopher

Heraclitus of Ephesus (540 BC – 480 BC) was a Greek philosopher, also known as “The Dark One of Ephesus”. Born in a town in modern-day Turkey, he is one of the most studied philosophers before Plato, despite the fact that only a few of his original writings survive.

The work of this Greek thinker is aphoristic and a great interpretative skill is necessary to understand his teachings.

Great famous quotes and phrases from Heraclitus

In this article we are going to try to synthesize Heraclitus’ philosophy through his best phrases They are famous quotes that summarize his knowledge and that have come down to us through the centuries.

It may interest you:

1. No one bathes in the river twice because everything changes in the river and in the one in which they bathe.

Perhaps his most studied and commented reflection. Everything is ephemeral, so we cannot firmly affirm that an entity remains the same at two different moments.

2. Doctors cut, burn, torture. And by doing good to the sick, which seems more like evil, they demand a reward that they hardly deserve.

About the fearful presumptuous ignorance of doctors.

3. For God everything is beautiful, good and just. Men have conceived what is just and what is unjust.

It is humanity that conceives the ethical principles of good and evil.

4. The waters that cover those that enter the same river are different.

Another famous quote from Heraclitus in relation to the mutability of matter.

5. Citizens must fight with as much fervor for the defense of the laws as for their walls, the former being no less necessary than the latter for the preservation of a city.

Defense and order, two basic principles for the subsistence of a civilization.

6. Gold seekers dig a lot and find little.

Great companies often lead to great disappointments.

7. Illness makes health pleasant; hunger satiety; fatigue rest.

Without the less friendly side of existence we would not be able to value the joy of living.

8. In the circle the beginning and the end are confused.

Plastic metaphor of great aesthetic and philosophical value.

9. It is granted to every man to know himself and to meditate wisely.

The gift of self-reflection. You just need to sit down and meditate on life.

10. If you don’t expect the unexpected you won’t recognize it when it arrives.

The unexpected, sooner or later, can arrive. So be alert.

11. Donkeys prefer straw to gold.

The perception of value is not in the hands of just anyone.

12. God is day and night, winter and summer, war and peace, abundance and hunger.

Omnipotent and omnipresent. One of Heraclitus’ phrases in which he expresses his vision of the divine entity.

13. All human laws are fed by divine law.

Human morality is nothing but a verification of heavenly laws.

14. Everything changes; nothing is.

Another famous quote, very concise, about the mutability of matter.

15. Death is all we see when awake; I dream what we see while asleep.

Beautiful dream phrase with which to reflect.

16. Dogs only bark at those they don’t know.

With this famous quote, Heraclitus exhorts us to reflect.

17. The sun is new every day.

It can be interpreted in different ways, but it is likely that Heraclitus pronounced this phrase thinking again about the permanent change of reality.

18. The dry soul is the wisest and the best.

Without artifice, without makeup.

19. It is wise to listen not to me, but (“to the logos”) to the word, and to recognize that all things are one.

A sample of his philosophical monism, a doctrine also supported by Parmenides, Spinoza and Hegel.

20. This world always was, is and will be eternally living fire.

The flame of existence is rarely extinguished.

21. War is the origin of everything.

Interesting reflection on violence.

22. Dead bodies are to be disposed of with greater reason than manure.

Perhaps to prevent the spread of infectious diseases.

23. Nothing is permanent except change.

Change is the only thing we can consider certain and reliable.

24. Do not make people laugh to the point of giving cause for laughter.

Self-respect and composure, very present in the work of Heraclitus.

25. Because without collision forces there are no movements and there is no reality.

Essence and synthesis are found in conflict.

26. If all things turned into smoke, the noses would discern.

Metaphor to apply to different contexts of life.

27. Once born, they want to live and reach their destiny, but rather rest, so they leave behind them to reach their destiny.

About human existence.

28. Erudition does not teach common sense, as it would have taught it to Hesiod and Pythagoras and even to Xenophanes and Hecataeus.

Having extensive knowledge does not imply having achieved maturity and wisdom.

29. One’s opinion, sacred illness.

On the banality of ill-founded opinions.

30. Let’s not make random guesses about the most important issues.

Very much in line with Heraclitus’ previous phrase.

31. It is necessary to know that war is common; justice, strife, and that everything happens through strife and necessity.

Another phrase from Heraclitus in which he exonerates the conflict from the intuitive rejection that people show for it.

32. The eyes are more accurate witnesses than the ears.

Human perception prioritizes the sense of sight. But this is a metaphorical reflection.

33. Wisdom is the goal of the human soul and, as knowledge advances, the horizon of the unknown is further removed.

Knowledge makes us free and gives us a place in the world.

34. The soul is dyed with the color of its thoughts.

Positive phrase from the great Greek philosopher.

35. Human health is a reflection of the health of the Earth.

One of the first famous environmental quotes in this phrase by Heraclitus.