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
People ought to fight to keep their law as to defend the city s walls.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes the importance of valuing and defending one's principles and laws just as one would protect a city.
Heraclitus highlights that just as a city must be defended from external threats, individuals should also take a stand to protect their values and laws. This reflects the belief that societal order and personal integrity require active defense and engagement rather than passive acceptance.
Themes
LawDefensePrinciplesSocietyValues
In practice
Example use cases
In a debate on civic responsibility, you could use this quote to stress the importance of defending societal values.
More from Heraclitus
All quotes βThinking is a sacred disease and sight is deceptive.
HeraclitusRead
Things of which there is sight, hearing, apprehension, these I prefer.
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: 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."
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
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