The 35 best phrases of Heraclitus, the Greek philosopher

Heraclitus of Ephesus (540 a. C. - 480 a. C.) was a Greek philosopher, also known as "The Dark One of Ephesus". Born in a town in present-day Turkey, he is one of the most widely studied pre-Plato philosophers, despite the fact that only a few original writings of him survive.

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

• Related article: "The 75 best philosophical phrases of all time"

Great famous quotes and phrases from Heraclitus

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

It may interest you:

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1. Nobody bathes in the river twice because everything changes in the river and in which one bathes.

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

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

On the fearsome presumptuous ignorance of the doctors.

3. For God everything is beautiful, good and just. Men have conceived the just and the 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 such ardor for the defense of the laws, as for that of their walls, the former being no less necessary than these 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.

Big companies often lead to big disappointments.

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

Without the less friendly side of existence we would not be able to appreciate 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 meditate wisely.

The gift of self-reflection. You just have 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 come. So be alert.

11. Donkeys prefer straw to gold.

The perception of the valuable 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 the phrases of Heraclitus in which he expresses his vision of the divine being.

13. All human laws feed on divine law.

Human morality is but a statement of heavenly laws.

14. Everything changes; nothing is.

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

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

Beautiful dream phrase with which to reflect.

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

With this famous quote, Heraclitus urges us to reflect.

17. The sun is new every day.

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

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

No artifice, no 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 or Hegel.

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

The flame of existence rarely goes out.

21. War is the origin of everything.

Interesting reflection on violence.

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

Perhaps to prevent the spread of infectious diseases.

23. Nothing is permanent except for change.

Change is the only thing we can take for granted and reliable.

24. Don't 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.

In conflict is the essence and the synthesis.

26. If all things went up in smoke, noses would discern.

Metaphor to apply to different contexts of life.

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

About human existence.

28. Scholarship does not teach wisdom, as it would have taught Hesiod and Pythagoras and even Xenophanes and Hecateus.

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

29. The look of one, sacred disease.

On the banality of ill-founded opinions.

30. Let's not go around haphazardly guessing about the most important issues.

Very in line with the previous phrase of Heraclitus.

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

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

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

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

33. The wise is the goal of the human soul and, as it advances in its knowledge, it in turn moves away the horizon of the unknown.

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

34. The soul is colored by the color of its thoughts.

Positive phrase of the great Greek philosopher.

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

One of the first famous ecologists quotes in this Heraclitus phrase.