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
Things of which there is sight, hearing, apprehension, these I prefer.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Heraclitus emphasizes the value of direct experience and sensory perception over abstract ideas.
In this quote, Heraclitus expresses the idea that tangible experiences through our senses—sight, hearing, and apprehension—are more meaningful and preferable than abstract concepts or speculative thoughts. This philosophy suggests that understanding the world is grounded in personal, sensory experiences, encouraging a focus on the concrete rather than the theoretical.
Themes
ExperienceSensesPerceptionExistenceReality
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could serve as a reminder during a lecture about the importance of experiential learning.
More from Heraclitus
All quotes →Thinking is a sacred disease and sight is deceptive.
HeraclitusRead
Our envy always lasts longer than the happiness of those we envy.
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."
HeraclitusRead
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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