Thinking is a sacred disease and sight is deceptive.
HeraclitusRead
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.
Interpretation
Good character is developed gradually through consistent efforts over time.
Heraclitus emphasizes that the formation of good character is a slow and steady process that requires ongoing dedication and patience. Rather than being built in a short period, it is cultivated through daily actions and experiences, highlighting the importance of persistent effort in the journey of personal growth.
In practice
In a motivational speech about personal growth, one could use this quote to illustrate the importance of consistency.
Thinking is a sacred disease and sight is deceptive.
Things of which there is sight, hearing, apprehension, these I prefer.
Our envy always lasts longer than the happiness of those we envy.
For when is death not within our selves? And as Heracleitus says: βLiving 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."
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.
Man is most nearly himself when he achieves the seriousness of a child at play.
No one can ride on the back of a man unless it is bent.
Growing up in the place I did I never was aware of any other option but to question everything.
I have learned the novice can often see things that the expert overlooks._x000D_ _x000D_ All that is necessary is not to be afraid of making mistakes, or of appearing naive.
It is the common fate of the indolent to see their rights become prey to the active. The conditions upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime, and the punishment of his guilt.
Believing is a fine thing, but placing those beliefs into execution is a test of strength. Many are those who talk like the roar of the sea, gut their lives are shallow and stagnant, like the rotting marshes. Many are those who lift their heads above the mountain tops, but their spirits remain dormant in the obscurity of the caverns.
No one is more miserable than the person who wills everything and can do nothing.
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