Heraclitus Quotes on Knowledge
Heraclitus of Ephesus (c. 535–475 BC) wrote a single book On Nature in deliberately oracular fragments, of which roughly a hundred survive in quotations by later authors. The principal teaching is the unity of opposites under the universal logos — the rational structure that orders the perpetual transformation of all things — and the famous river-image: it is impossible to step into the same river twice, since the waters perpetually flow on. Knowledge for Heraclitus is the recognition of this hidden unity in the apparent flux: nature loves to hide, and the wise are those who attend to the logos rather than to the unreliable testimony of the senses or the conventional opinions of men.
Quotes
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“Much learning does not teach understanding.”
πολυμαθίη νόον οὐ διδάσκει -
Attributed to Heraclitus:
“Nature loves to hide.”
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Attributed to Heraclitus:
“The eyes are more accurate witnesses than the ears.”
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“τὰ ὄντα ἰέναι τε πάντα καὶ μένειν οὐδέν”
All entities move and nothing remains still. | As quoted by Plato in Cratylus , 401d -
“All entities move and nothing remains still.”
τὰ ὄντα ἰέναι τε πάντα καὶ μένειν οὐδέν -
“πάντα χωρεῖ καὶ οὐδὲν μένει”
Everything changes and nothing stands still. | As quoted by Plato in Cratylus , 402a | Variants and variant translations: Everything flows and nothing stays. Everything flows and nothing abides. Everything gives way and nothing stays fixed. Everything flows; nothing remains. All is flux, nothing is stationary. All is flux, nothing stays still. All flows, nothing stays. | Πάντα ῥεῖ Everything flows -
“Everything changes and nothing stands still.”
πάντα χωρεῖ καὶ οὐδὲν μένει -
“Variants and variant translations: Everything flows and nothing stays. Everything flows and nothing abides. Everything gives way and nothing stays fixed. Everything flows; nothing remains. All is flux, nothing is stationary. All is flux, nothing stays still. All flows, nothing stays.”
πάντα χωρεῖ καὶ οὐδὲν μένει -
“δὶς ἐς τὸν αὐτὸν ποταμὸν οὐκ ἂν ἐμβαίης.”
You could not step twice into the same river. | As quoted in Plato, Cratylus , 402a