Presocratics Quotes

“Under the comb
the tangle and the straight path
are the same.”
― Heraclitus, Fragments

“The living, though they yearn
for consummation of their fate,
need rest, and in their turn leave
children to fulfil their doom.”
― Heraclitus, Fragments

“To fight with desire is hard: whatever it wishes it buys at the price of a soul.”
― Heraclitus

“All things are full of gods.”
― Thales

“Look at a strung bow lying on the ground or leaning against a wall. No movement is visible. To the eyes, it appears a static object, completely at rest. But in fact, a continuous tug-of-war is going on within it, as will become evident if the string is not strong enough, or is allowed to perish. The bow will immediately take advantage, snap it and leap to straighten itself, thus showing that each had been putting forth effort all the time. The harmonia was a dynamic one of vigorous and contrary motions neutralized by equilibrium and so unapparent.”
― W.K.C. Guthrie, A History of Greek Philosophy, Volume 1: The Earlier Presocratics and the Pythagoreans

“Nobility passes through by blood, not by law”
― Haluk Çay, MARIA ROMANOV: After 17 July 1918

“In its stable state air is invisible, but when it is moved and condensed it becomes first wind and then cloud and then water, and finally water condensed becomes mud and stone. Rarefied air became fire, thus completing the gamut of the elements. In this way rarefaction and condensation can conjure everything out of the underlying air. In support of this claim Anaximenes appealed to experience, and indeed to experiment — an experiment that the reader can easily carry out for herself. Blow on your hand, First with the lips pursed, and then from an open mouth: the First time the air will feel cold, and the second time hot. This, argued Anaximenes, shows the connection between density and temperature.”
― Anthony Kenny, Ancient Philosophy