The creative insights of Heraclitus
From the book A Whack on the Side of the Head
The cosmos speaks in patterns.
Expect the unexpected or you won’t find it.
That which opposes produces a benefit.
A wonderful harmony arises when we join together the seemingly unconnected.
If all things turned to smoke, the nose would become the discerning organ.
The Sun will not exceed its limits, because the avenging Furies, ministers of Justice, would find out.
Lovers of wisdom must open their minds to very many things.
I searched into myself. Knowing many things doesn’t teach insight.
Many fail to grasp what’s right in the palm of their hand.
When there is no sun, we can see the evening stars.
The most beautiful order is a heap of sweepings piled up at random.
Things love to conceal their true nature.
Those who approach life like a child playing a game, moving and pushing pieces, possess the power of kings.
Sea water is both pure and polluted: for fish it is drinkable and life-giving, for humans undrinkable and destructive.
On a circle, an end point can also be a beginning point.
It is disease that makes health pleasant, hunger that make fullness good, and weariness that makes rest sweet.
The doctor inflicts pain to cure suffering.
The way up and the way down are one and the same.
A thing rests by changing.
The barley-wine drink falls apart unless it is stirred.
While we’re awake, we share one universe, but in sleep, we each turn away to a world of our own.
Dogs bark at what they don’t understand.
Donkeys prefer garbage to gold.
Every walking animal is driven to its purpose with a whack.
There is a greater need to extinguish arrogance than a blazing fire.
Your character is your destiny.
The sun is new each day.
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