Ἡράκλειτος

[BFGriffith]

🌊 Πάντα ῥεῖ ≍ “everything flows”

ποταμοῖσι τοῖσιν αὐτοῖσιν ἐμϐαίνουσιν, ἕτερα καὶ ἕτερα ὕδατα ἐπιρρεῖ.
potamoisi toisin autoisin embainousin, hetera kai hetera hudata epirrei
“On those stepping into rivers the same, other and other waters flow.”

τὰ ὄντα ἰέναι τε πάντα καὶ μένειν οὐδέν
ta onta ienai te panta kai menein ouden
“All beings going and remaining not at all…”

ποταμοῖς τοῖς αὐτοῖς ἐμβαίνομέν τε καὶ οὐκ ἐμβαίνομεν, εἶμέν τε καὶ οὐκ εἶμεν.
potamois tois autois embainomen te kai ouk embainomen eimen te kai ouk eimen
“We both step and do not step in the same rivers. We are and are not.”

ἐκ τῶν διαφερόντων καλλίστην ἁρμονίαν
ek tōn diapherontōn kallistēn harmonian
“Out of discord comes the fairest harmony.”

Ηθος Ανθρωπος Δαιμων
Ethos Anthropoi Daimon
“One’s Character is His Fate”

ἄνθρωπος ἐν εὐφρόνῃ φάος ἅπτεται ἑαυτῷ [ἀποθανὼν] ἀποσβεσθεὶς
“Man, like a light in the night, is kindled and put out.” (Fragment 26)

κόσμον τόνδε, τὸν αὐτὸν ἁπάντων, οὔτε τις θεῶν οὐτε ἀνθρώπων ἐποίησεν, ἀλλ' ἦν ἀεὶ καὶ ἔστιν καὶ ἔσται πῦρ ἀείζωον, ἁπτόμενον μέτρα καὶ ἀποσβεννύμενον μέτρα
“This universe, which is the same for all, has not been made by any god or man, but it always has been, is, and will be an ever-living fire, kindling itself by regular measures and going out by regular measures.” (Fragment 30)
That which always was,／and is, and will be everlasting fire,／the same for all, the cosmos,／made neither by god nor man,／replenishes in measure／as it burns away. (translated by Brooks Haxton)

πολυμαθίη νόον οὐ διδάσκει
“Much learning does not teach understanding.” (Fragment 40)

μάχεσθαι χρὴ τὸν δῆμον ὑπὲρ τοῦ νόμου ὅκωσπερ τείχεος
“The people must fight for its law as for its walls.” (Fragment 44)

ὁδὸς ἄνω κάτω μία καὶ ὡυτή
“The road up and the road down is one and the same.” (Fragment 60)

ταὐτό τ' ἔνι ζῶν καὶ τεθνηκὸς καὶ [τὸ] ἐγρηγορὸς καὶ καθεῦδον καὶ νέον καὶ γηραιόν
“And it is the same thing in us that is quick and dead, awake and asleep, young and old.” (Fragment 88)

τοῖς ἐγρηγορόσιν ἕνα καὶ κοινὸν κόσμον εἶναι, τῶν δὲ κοιμωμένων ἕκαστον εἰς ἴδιον ἀποστρέφεσθαι
“The waking have one world in common; sleepers have each a private world of his own.” (Fragment 89, also Plutarch, Of Superstition)

ποταμῷ γὰρ οὐκ ἔστιν ἐμβῆναι δὶς τῷ αὐτῷ
“You cannot step twice into the same river.” (Fragment 91, also Plutarch, On the EI at Delphi)

Although the Law of Reason is common, the majority of people live as though they had an understanding of their own.
Fragment 92, as translated by G.W.T. Patrick, trans.
Men are at variance with the one thing with which they are in the most unbroken communion, the reason that administers the whole universe. (Fragment 93)
Friedrich Nietzsche’s translation: The law under which most of them ceaselessly have commerce they reject for themselves. (The Pre-Platonic Philosophers, Chapter 10)]

νέκυες γὰρ κοπρίων ἐκβλητότεροι
“Corpses are more fit to be cast out than dung.” (Fragment 96)

κύνες γὰρ καὶ βαΰζουσινὃν, ἂν μὴ γινώσκωσι.
“Dogs, also, bark at what they do not know.” (Fragment 97)

ἀμαθίην κρύπτειν ἄμεινον
“It is better to conceal ignorance than to expose it.” (Fragment 109)
Variant translation: Hide our ignorance as we will, an evening of wine soon reveals it.

ἀνθρώποις γίνεσθαι ὁκόσα θέλουσιν οὐκ ἄμεινον
“It would not be better if things happened to people just as they wish.” (Fragment 110)

φύσις κρύπτεσθαι φιλεῖ
“Nature is wont to hide herself.” (Fragment 123)

χαλεπώτερον ἡδονῇ μάχεσθαι ἢ θυμῷ
“It is harder to fight against pleasure than against anger.”

• As quoted by Aristotle in Nicomachean Ethics, Book II (1105a)

χρὴ γὰρ εὖ μάλα πολλῶν ἴστορας φιλοσόφους ἄνδρας εἶναι
“Men that love wisdom must be acquainted with very many things indeed.”

• As quoted Clement of Alexandria, Stromata, V, 140, 6 (Fragment 35)

τὰ ὄντα ἰέναι τε πάντα καὶ μένειν οὐδέν
“All entities move and nothing remains still.”

• As quoted by Plato in Cratylus, 401d

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.”

• This statement occurs in Simplicius’ Commentary on Aristotle's Physics, 1313.11; while some sources attribute to Simplicius the coining of the specific phrase "πάντα ῥεῖ (panta rhei)", meaning "everything flows/is in a state of flux", to characterize the concept in the philosophy of Heraclitus, the essential phrasing "everything changes" and variations on it, in contexts where Heraclitus's thought is being alluded to, was current in both Plato and Aristotle's writings.

δὶς ἐς τὸν αὐτὸν ποταμὸν οὐκ ἂν ἐμβαίης.
“You could not step twice into the same river.”

• As quoted in Plato, Cratylus, 402a

τὴν μεταβολὴν ὁδὸν ἄνω κάτω, τόν τε κόσμον γίνεσθαι κατ' αὐτήν.
“Change he called a pathway up and down, and this determines the birth of the world.”

• From Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers by Diogenes Laërtius, Book IX, section 8

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• “Abundance of knowledge does not teach men to be wise.”

[BFGriffith]

• https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Heraclitus