Heraclitus is the first figure of an isolated thinker that we find in the history of Greek philosophy. He was born in Ephesus in Asia Minor and reached maturity around 500 BC. With a haughty character and hostile to the democratic regime of his city (which had exiled his friend Ermodoro), he retired to the temple of Artemis, where he lived in contemplation and isolation. Let us now discover the best known phrases of Heraclitus.
The best known phrases of Heraclitus
Heraclitus of Ephesus was born in the region of Ionia, present-day Turkey , in the year 534 BC Despite being a great Greek philosopher, his life and work was not discovered after he died according to later testimonies, standing out mainly for focusing on misanthropic philosophy , is that is, hatred towards everything human.
However, Heraclitus is the first philosopher who assumes man as a determining element of philosophical research. In fact, man must seek the truth within himself, but most men, unable to hear it, allow themselves to be deceived by appearances and move with indifference and superficially in the world in which they find themselves, unable to understand the truth. truths.
After dying in 484 BC, Heraclitus left fragments of his thought in various works and reflections of which we highlight his best phrases below:
- “No man steps on the same river twice, because it is not the same river and he is not the same man.”
- «God is day and night, winter and summer, war and peace, hunger and satiety. And mute like fire ».
- “It is more difficult to fight pleasure than anger.”
- “The abundance of knowledge does not teach men to be wise.”
- «You will not find the confines of the soul even by traveling all the roads; such is its depth.
- “Man, like a light in the night, turns on and off.”
- “It is granted to every man to know himself and meditate wisely.”
- “The only thing that is constant is change.”
- “The eyes are more exact witnesses than the ears.”
- “It is better to hide ignorance than to expose it.”
- “Much learning does not teach understanding.”
- “We are all one”.
- “It is granted to every man to know himself and meditate wisely”
- ” What is different is united, and the most beautiful harmony results from differences .”
- ” It is not possible to descend the same river twice”
- «Listening not to me, but to reason, it is wise to recognize that all things are one»
- “The sun is new every day”
- “Character is for man his demon”
- «The opposite agrees, and from the discordant the most beautiful harmony is formed, and everything is engendered by discord»
- “Way up, way down, one and the same”
- “Dogs, of course, bark at those who do not know”
- “Don’t make people laugh to the point of giving cause for laughter”
- “War is the father and king of all things”
- “All human laws feed on divine law”
- «Living your desires, exhausting them in life, is the destiny of all existence»
- “Illness makes health good and pleasant, hunger to satiety, work to rest.”
- «You will not find the confines of the soul even by traveling all the roads; such is its depth »
- “It is necessary to know that war is common and justice is discord, and that everything happens according to discord and necessity”
- «It is necessary to know that war is common; justice, strife, and that everything happens because of strife and necessity »
- “Without hope lies the unexpected”
