QuoteProject
He who does not expect will not find out the unexpected, for it is trackless and unexplored
Heraclitus
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

This quote suggests that not having expectations allows you to discover surprising things in life.

Heraclitus emphasizes the value of being open to the unknown and unexpected. When one approaches life without rigid expectations, they become more receptive to serendipitous discoveries and the potential for growth that lies in the unexplored and unanticipated aspects of existence.

Themes

ExpectationDiscoveryUnexploredSurpriseWisdom

In practice

Example use cases

This quote could be used during a motivational speech about embracing new experiences.

More from Heraclitus

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
Thinking 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: β€œLiving 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

Similar quotes

From now on the enemy is more clever than you. From now on the enemy is stronger than you. From now on you are always about to lose.
Orson Scott CardRead
Health is the condition of wisdom, and the sign is cheerfulness, - an open and noble temper.
Ralph Waldo EmersonRead
People who are not enjoying their lives in the present have lust for life in the future. Lust for life is always in the future. It is a postponement. They are saying, 'We cannot enjoy today so we will enjoy tomorrow.' They are saying, 'Right this moment we cannot celebrate, so let there be a tomorrow so that we can celebrate.'
RajneeshRead
We never know which lives we influence, or when, or why. Not until the future eats the present, anyway. We know when it's too late.
Stephen KingRead
Never let yourself be diverted, either by what you wish to believe, or what you think could have beneficent social effects if it were believed; but look only and solely at what are the facts.
Bertrand RussellRead
When the aerials are down, and your spirit is covered with snows of cynicism and the ice of pessimism, then you are grown old, even at 20, but as long as your aerials are up, to catch waves of optimism, there is hope you may die young at 80.
Samuel UllmanRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.