Heraclitus was a famous philosopher who stated that “Everything changes and nothing remains still.” He also believed that opposites could be connected so that they are not contradicting each other but creating tension between them.
This idea is present in the worldview of many cultures which see the world as being made up of two complementary, opposite poles, such as yin and yang, in Chinese philosophy. This concept has been explored by many ancient philosophers but has never been more articulated than by Heraclitus.
We’ve created this collection of quotes of him that are still as inspiring and relevant today.
79 Inspirational Heraclitus Quotes
1. “Much learning does not teach understanding.” ~ Heraclitus
2. “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.” ~ Heraclitus
3. “Much learning does not teach sense.” ~ Heraclitus
4. “Big results require big ambitions.” ~ Heraclitus
5. “Even sleepers are workers and collaborators in what goes on in the Universe.” ~ Heraclitus
6. “How can you hide from what never goes away?” – Heraclitus
7. “You cannot step twice into the same river.” ~ Heraclitus
8. “If you do not expect the unexpected, you will not recognize it when it arrives.” ~ Heraclitus
9. “The soul is dyed the color of its thoughts.” ~ Heraclitus
10. “No one that encounters prosperity does not also encounter danger.” ~ Heraclitus
11. “A hidden connection is stronger than an obvious one.” ~ Heraclitus
12. “Deliberate violence is more to be quenched than a fire.” ~ Heraclitus
13. “Any day stands equal to the rest.” ~ Heraclitus
14. “To God everything is beautiful, good, and just; humans, however, think some things are unjust and others just.” ~ Heraclitus
15. “If you do not hope, you will not win that which is not hoped for, since it is unattainable and inaccessible.” ~ Heraclitus
16. What was gathered, blows away” ~ Heraclitus
17. “If it were not for injustice, men would not know justice.” ~ Heraclitus
18. “It is by disease that health is pleasant; by evil that good is pleasant; by hunger, satiety; by weariness, rest.” ~ Heraclitus
19. “If they are gods, why do you lament them? If you lament them, you must no longer regard them as gods.” ~ Heraclitus
20. “If we do not expect the unexpected, we will never find it.” ~ Heraclitus
21. “The sun is new each day.” ~ Heraclitus
22. “Whoever cannot seek the unforeseen sees nothing for the known way is an impasse.” ~ Heraclitus
23. “What are men? Mortal gods. What are gods? Immortal men.” ~ Heraclitus
24. “Stupidity is better kept a secret than displayed.” ~ Heraclitus
25. “Opposition brings concord. Out of discord comes the fairest harmony.” ~ Heraclitus
26. “Couples are wholes and not wholes, what agrees disagrees, the concordant is discordant. From all things one and from one all things.” ~ Heraclitus
27. “Everything flows and nothing abides; everything gives way and nothing stays fixed.” ~ Heraclitus
28. “The soul is undiscovered though explored forever to a depth beyond report.” ~ Heraclitus
29. “Men who wish to know about the world must learn about it in its particular details.” ~ Heraclitus
30. “The way up and the way down are one and the same.” ~ Heraclitus
31. “Wisdom is the oneness of mind that guides and permeates all things.” ~ Heraclitus
32. “I am what libraries and librarians have made me, with little assistance from a professor of Greek and poets.” ~ Heraclitus
33. “Thinking is a sacred disease and sight is deceptive.” ~ Heraclitus
34. “A fool is excited by every word.” ~ Heraclitus
35. “It is difficult to fight against anger; for a man will buy revenge with his soul.” ~ Heraclitus Quotes
36. “Those who are awake all live in the same world. Those who are asleep live in their own worlds.” ~ Heraclitus
37. “Without injustices, the name of justice would mean what?” – Heraclitus
38. “It is in changing that things find purpose.” ~ Heraclitus
39. “The awake share a common world, but the asleep turn aside into private worlds.” ~ Heraclitus
40. “The eyes are more exact witnesses than the ears.” ~ Heraclitus
41. “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.” ~ Heraclitus
42. “The hidden harmony is better than the obvious.” ~ Heraclitus
43. “The world is nothing but a great desire to live and a great dissatisfaction with living.” ~ Heraclitus
44. “What sense or thought do they have? They follow the popular singers, and they take the crowd as their teacher.” ~ Heraclitus
45. “You cannot step into the same river twice.” ~ Heraclitus
46. “Tis not too late to seek a newer world.” ~ Heraclitus
47. “There is nothing permanent except change.” ~ Heraclitus
48. “Life has the name of life, but in reality it is death.” ~ Heraclitus
49. “History is a child building a sandcastle by the sea, and that child is the whole majesty of man’s power in the world.” ~ Heraclitus
50. “Man is most nearly himself when he achieves the seriousness of a child at play.” ~ Heraclitus
51. “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.” ~ Heraclitus
52. “To be evenminded is the greatest virtue. Wisdom is to speak the truth and act in keeping with its nature.” ~ Heraclitus
53. “Day by day, what you do is who you become.” ~ Heraclitus
54. “Everything flows, nothing stays still.” ~ Heraclitus
55. “We are most nearly ourselves when we achieve the seriousness of the child at play.” ~ Heraclitus
56. “Stupidity is doomed, therefore, to cringe at every syllable of wisdom.” ~ Heraclitus
57. “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.” ~ Heraclitus
58. “All things come into being by conflict of opposites.” ~ Heraclitus
59. “No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.” ~ Heraclitus
60. “To fight with desire is hard: whatever it wishes it buys at the price of a soul.” ~ Heraclitus
61. “Hide our ignorance as we will, an evening of wine soon reveals it.” ~ Heraclitus
62. “People ought to fight to keep their law as to defend the city’s walls.” ~ Heraclitus
63. “The chain of wedlock is so heavy that it takes two to carry it – and sometimes three.” ~ Heraclitus
64. “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.” ~ Heraclitus
65. “The unlike is joined together, and from differences results the most beautiful harmony.” ~ Heraclitus
66. “If you do not expect the unexpected you will not find it, for it is not to be reached by search or trail.” ~ Heraclitus
67. “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.” ~ Heraclitus
68. “Justice will overtake fabricators of lies and false witnesses.” ~ Heraclitus
69. “Knowledge is not intelligence.” ~ Heraclitus
70. “Dogs bark at what they don’t understand.” ~ Heraclitus
71. “It would not be better if things happened to men just as they wish.” ~ Heraclitus
72. “Everything changes and nothing stands still.” ~ Heraclitus
73. “One thunderbolt strikes root through everything.” ~ Heraclitus
74. “Time is a game played beautifully by children.” ~ Heraclitus
75. “Big results require big ambitions.” ~ Heraclitus
76. “Character is destiny.” ~ Heraclitus
77. “What was scattered gathers. What was gathered blows away.” ~ Heraclitus
78. “A man’s character is his fate.” ~ Heraclitus
79. “Man’s character is his fate.” ~ Heraclitus
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