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.
What are men? Mortal gods. _x000D_ What are gods? Immortal men.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote suggests a deep connection between humans and gods, emphasizing the transient nature of humanity and the divine.
Heraclitus blends the concepts of mortality and immortality, pointing to a philosophical reflection on the nature of existence. By calling men 'mortal gods,' he elevates humanity to a status of greatness despite the inevitability of death, while simultaneously depicting gods as 'immortal men,' suggesting that divine beings share traits with humans but are freed from mortality. This duality prompts us to consider the essence of life and the potential for greatness in our impermanent existence.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a graduation speech to inspire young minds to strive for greatness despite their human limitations.
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
"Between a high, solid wall and an egg that breaks against it, I will always stand on the side of the egg."_x000D_ _x000D_ Yes, no matter how right the wall may be and how wrong the egg, I will stand with the egg. Someone else will have to decide what is right and what is wrong; perhaps time or history will decide. If there were a novelist who, for whatever reason, wrote works standing with the wall, of what value would such works be?
Prayer is putting oneself in the hands of God
Being here really is just the invitation to rest as Being. There is nothing you have to do. It is not an invitation to become. You will not be scrutinized, your actions compared with those of others. Thats just unicorn food. Let your river flow as it pleases. Simply observe and recognise that all is unfolding spontaneously when that inner journalist- the ego, is exposed as a myth.
There is never a humanitarian solution for a humanitarian crisis. The solutions for the humanitarian crisis are always political ones.
There is nothing in the world that is not mysterious, but the mystery is more evident in certain things than in others: in the sea, in the eyes of the elders, in the color yellow, and in music.
Without theory, there are no questions.