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 people must fight for their laws as for their walls.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes the importance of defending oneβs rights and laws just as one would defend their physical space.
Heraclitus draws a powerful analogy between the defense of one's laws and the defense of one's physical territory. He suggests that just as walls protect our homes and provide safety, laws serve as essential safeguards for our rights and society. The quote implies that individuals have a duty to actively engage in the protection and establishment of their legal rights, highlighting the connection between civic responsibility and the preservation of freedom and order within the community.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech advocating for civil rights, one might say this quote to inspire action.
More from Heraclitus
All quotes βThinking 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.
Similar quotes
I want to go ahead of Father Time with a scythe of my own.
Here then at long last is my darkness. No cry of light, no glimmer, not even the faintest shard of hope to break free across the hold.
Anarchy: It is NOT bombs, disorder or chaos. It is NOT robbery and murder. It is NOT a war of each against all. It is NOT a return to barbarism or to the wild state of man. Anarchism is the very opposite of all that.
A thought may arise: 'It's okay now, but it's going to be different when I step out the door'. Already you are anticipating your downfall. Recognise these as just thoughts. You can just watch them, feel their pull yet observe them as a movement in consciousness. Stay put as formless awareness.
In great countries, children are always trying to remain children, and the parents want to make them into adults. In vile countries, the children are always wanting to be adults and the parents want to keep them children.
God is God; you are but one of His creatures. Your only joy is to be found in obeying Him, your true fulfillment is to be found in worshiping Him, your only wisdom is to be found in trusting and knowing Him.