The Philosopher
Heraclitus
The face
The background
- Nationality:
- Greek
- Schools:
- Ionian School (philosophy)
- Branchs:
- Cosmology, Process philosophy, Paradox
- Period:
- Pre-Socratic philosophy
The synopsis
Heraclitus was an ancient Greek pre-Socratic philosopher from Ephesus, which was then part of the Persian Empire. He exerts a wide influence on Western philosophy, both ancient and modern, through the works of such authors as Plato, Aristotle, the Stoics, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Martin Heidegger.
Little is known of Heraclitus's life. He wrote a single work, of which only fragments survive. Even in ancient times, his paradoxical philosophy, appreciation for wordplay, and cryptic, oracular epigrams earned him the epithets "the dark" and "the obscure". He was considered arrogant and depressed, a misanthrope who was subject to melancholia. Consequently, he became known as "the weeping philosopher" in contrast to the ancient atomist philosopher Democritus, who was known as "the laughing philosopher".
The central ideas of Heraclitus's philosophy are the unity of opposites and the concept of change. Heraclitus saw harmony and justice in strife. He viewed the world as constantly in flux, always "becoming" but never "being". He expressed this in sayings like "Everything flows" (Greek: πάντα ῥεῖ, panta rhei) and "No man ever steps in the same river twice". This insistence upon change contrasts with that of the ancient philosopher Parmenides, who believed in a reality of static "being".
Heraclitus believed fire was the arche, the fundamental element of the world. In choosing an arche Heraclitus followed the Milesians before him — Thales of Miletus with water, Anaximander with apeiron ("boundless" or "infinite"), and Anaximenes of Miletus with air. Heraclitus also thought the logos (lit. word, discourse, or reason) gave structure to the world or existed as a kind of divine law.
The works
On Nature
The quotes
No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man.
The sun is new each day.
Character is destiny.
Change alone is unchanging.
Justice will overtake fabricators of lies and false witnesses.
Eyes and ears are poor witnesses to people if they have uncultured souls.
Nature is wont to hide herself.
The eyes are more exact witnesses than the ears.
Bigotry is the sacred disease.
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.
Corpses are more fit to be thrown out than is dung.
You could not step twice into the same rivers; for other waters are ever flowing on to you.
Couples are wholes and not wholes, what agrees disagrees, the concordant is discordant. From all things one and from one all things.
No one that encounters prosperity does not also encounter danger.
The way up and the way down are one and the same.
The chain of wedlock is so heavy that it takes two to carry it - and sometimes three.
Nothing endures but change.
To God everything is beautiful, good, and just; humans, however, think some things are unjust and others just.
Big results require big ambitions.
There is nothing permanent except change.
Man is most nearly himself when he achieves the seriousness of a child at play.
Much learning does not teach understanding.
Our envy always lasts longer than the happiness of those we envy.
Deliberate violence is more to be quenched than a fire.
A man's character is his guardian divinity.
The best people renounce all for one goal, the eternal fame of mortals; but most people stuff themselves like cattle.
Hide our ignorance as we will, an evening of wine soon reveals it.
I am what libraries and librarians have made me, with little assistance from a professor of Greek and poets.
It is hard to contend against one's heart's desire; for whatever it wishes to have it buys at the cost of soul.
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 hidden harmony is better than the obvious.
If you do not expect the unexpected you will not find it, for it is not to be reached by search or trail.
Opposition brings concord. Out of discord comes the fairest harmony.
A man's character is his fate.
God is day and night, winter and summer, war and peace, surfeit and hunger.
You cannot step into the same river twice.
Even sleepers are workers and collaborators in what goes on in the Universe.
Men who wish to know about the world must learn about it in its particular details.