About the book
Heraclitus's surviving sayings are gathered here. The pre-Socratic Greek philosopher's own book, On Nature, was lost, and he is known mainly through fragments that later writers quoted. One English edition, translated by the poet Brooks Haxton, sets all 130 surviving fragments in free verse beside the Greek.
Ryan Holiday includes it in his Books to Base Your Life On, saying its lines may read as poetic but offer the same direct, perspective-shifting advice as his more practical picks.
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This book has 1 recommendation
Ryan Holiday (Founder/Brass Check)
While most of the other practical philosophy recommendations I’m making are bent towards hard, practical advice, Heraclitus might seem a bit poetic. But those beautiful lines are really the same direct advice and timeless, perspective-changing observations as the others. “Try in vain with empty talk / to separate the essences of things / and say how each thing truly is.” “Applicants for wisdom / do what I have done: / inquire within.” “Character is fate.” “What eyes witness / ears believe on hearsay.” “The crops are sold / for money spent on food.”
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