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.
HeraclitusRead
For when is death not within our selves? And as Heracleitus says: “Living and dead are the same, and so are awake and asleep, young and old. The former when shifted are the latter, and again the latter when shifted are the former."
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects on the interconnectedness of existence and the fluidity of life's stages.
Heraclitus explores the profound relationship between seemingly opposite states—life and death, wakefulness and sleep, youth and old age—suggesting that these binaries are not rigid but rather interchangeable. This perspective encourages deeper contemplation of existence and the continuity of change within the cycles of life.
Themes
DeathLifeChangeDualityPhilosophy
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion on the nature of existence, one might use this quote to illustrate the idea of life's impermanence.
More from Heraclitus
All quotes →Thinking is a sacred disease and sight is deceptive.
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Things of which there is sight, hearing, apprehension, these I prefer.
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Our envy always lasts longer than the happiness of those we envy.
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Whosoever wishes to know about the world must learn about it in its particular details. Knowledge is not intelligence. In searching for the truth be ready for the unexpected. Change alone is unchanging. The same road goes both up and down. The beginning of a circle is also its end. Not I, but the world says it: all is one. And yet everything comes in season.
HeraclitusRead
Man is most nearly himself when he achieves the seriousness of a child at play.
HeraclitusRead
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