1

The

Word

those

proves

first

as

hearing

numb

it

to

understanding

as the ones who have not heard.

Yet all things follow from the Word.

Some,
with
try
to

blundering
what
in
separate

I
vain
the

and say how each thing truly is.

set

before

you,

with

empty

talk

essences

of

things

And

all

the

They

rest

make

no

how

they

more
behave

than

no

attempt.
see

broad

waking

remember

clearly

wisdom,

listen

what they did asleep.

2

For
not

to

me

but

to

the

Word,

and know that all is one.

Those
for

unmindful
all

they

when
make

of

they
their

hear,
intelligence,

may be regarded as the walking dead.

People

dull

their

wits

with

gibberish,

and cannot use their ears and eyes.

Many
and

fail
cannot

to

grasp
judge

what
what

although they tell themselves they know.

6

they
they

have
have

seen,
learned,

Yet

they

lack

the

skill

to listen or to speak.

Whoever
the
for
is an impasse.

cannot
unforeseen
the

seek
sees
known

nothing,
way

Men

dig

tons

of

earth

to find an ounce of gold.

See note.
10

Things keep their secrets.

11

Yet
or

without
needless

obscurity
explanation

the true prophet signifies.

12

The

prophets

requires

no

voice
ornament,

possessed
no

sweetening

of
of

god
tone,

but carries over a thousand years.

13

The

eye,

the

mind

these I value.

the
in

ear,
action,

14

Now
we
and

that
need

no

myth-makers

about disputed facts.

15

we

can
longer
for

travel
take
sure

anywhere,
the

poets
witnesses

What

eyes

witness,

ears believe on hearsay.

16

If

learning

were

those

most

would

not

that

path

learned
believe,

Pallas

in

of

wisdom,

about

myth

with

Hesiod,

her

wisdom

gloats

well

have

been

over the noise of battle.

17

Pythagoras

may

the

in

And

deepest
still

his
he

learning
claimed

of
to

all

men.
recollect

details

of

being

in

former

lives,

cucumber

one

and one time a sardine.

18

Of

all

none

comes

which

is

the

words

quite
the

as
action

beyond all things that may be said.

19

yet
far
of

spoken,

as
the

wisdom,
mind

Wisdom

is

of

mind

the

oneness

that

guides

and permeates all things.

20

That
and

which
is,

the
made

and

same

always
will

be

for

neither

all,
by

replenishes

was,
everliving
the

god

nor

in

fire,
cosmos,
man,
measure

as it burns away.

21

Fire

in

its

ways

of

changing

is

between

sea
forks

transfigured
of

lightning

and the solid earth.

22

As

all

things

and

change
fire

falls

back

the

crops

to

fire,
exhausted

into
are

things,
sold

for money spent on food.

23

The
into

earth

is
the

melted
sea

by

that

same

whereby

the

reckoning
sea

sinks into the earth.

24

Hunger,

even

in

the

elements,

and insolence.

25

Air

dies

giving

birth

to

fire. Fire

giving
thus,

birth
is

dies
to

air. Water,

born

of

dying

earth, and earth of water.

26

Fire

of

all

things

is the judge and ravisher.

27

How,
that
or
would you escape?

from

a
never

fire
sinks
sets,

28

One

thunderbolt

strikes

root through everything.

29

No
itself,
but
set things right.
30

being,

not

exceeds

the
due

contending

sun
measure,
powers

Dawn

turns

to

around
of

the
the

dusk
pivot
North.

Southward

lies

the

zone

of greater light.

31

Without
what day? What night?

32

the

sun,

The

sun

is

new

again, all day.

33

The

mind

saw
clearly
the eclipse.

of
in

as

Thales
forethought

in

heaven

34

The
of

sun,
the

timekeeper

day

and

season,

oversees all things.

35

Many
from
of

who
Hesiod
gods

never
that night and day are one.
36

have
the

countless
and

learned
names
monsters
understand

By
as

cosmic
day

so
war

of
bodies

yields

night,

winter
peace,

All
Fire

rule,

summer,
plenty

famine.

things
penetrates
myrrh,

change.
the

until

die

lump

the

and

rise

joining
again

in smoke called incense.

37

If
were

everything
turned

to

smoke,

the

nose

would

be the seat of judgment.

38

Thus

in

the

abysmal

dark

the soul is known by scent.

39

What
and

was

cold

warmth

So
and dry things drown.

soon
soon

moisture

warms,
cools.
dries,

40

What

was

scattered

was

gathered

gathers.
What
blows apart.

41

The

river

where
your

you
foot

set
just

now

is

gone

those

waters

giving

way

to

this,

now this.
42

Omitted, see note.

43

The
who
among

poet

was

wanted

no
us,

or

as
man and woman.

fool
conflict
gods
people.

Harmony
low

needs
and
progeny

high,
needs

44

War,
of

as
all

father

things,

and

king,

names

few

to

serve

and

of

as
the

these

gods,
rest

makes

men

slaves,

those free.
45

The
that
needs

mind,

to

think

strains
strength,

to string the bow or lyre.

of

the

against
as

does

accord
itself,

the

arm

46

From

the

of

strain

binding

opposites

comes harmony.

47

The

harmony

more deeply than the known.

past

knowing

sounds

48

Yet

lets

not

rash

make
guesses

our most lucid thoughts.

49

Seekers

of

wisdom

first

need sound intelligence.

50

Under

the

comb

the

tangle

and

the

straight

path

of

litter

are the same.

51

An

ass

prefers

bed

to a golden throne.
53

Sues

coeno,

cinere) lavari.

cohortales

aves

pulvere

(vel

54

Omitted as repetition of 53.

52

The

sea

is

and
and

both

pure

tainted,
good

haven

healthy
to

the

fish,

to men impotable and deadly.

53

Poultry
in
swine in filth.

bathe
dust

and

ashes,

55

Hungry
though

livestock,
in

sight

of

pasture,

need the prod.

56

The
by

cosmos
harmony

works
of

tensions,

like the lyre and bow.

57

Therefore,
and ill are one.

58

good

Good

and

ill

surely

to

must

since

he

the

physician

be
derives

one,
his

fee

from torturing the sick.

59

Two

made

Arguing

the

Singing

are

both soon diverge.

one,

we

compete.

each
and

from

one.
disagree.

we

choose
be

never

same
together

We
to

one

other
the

one

101

The

luckiest

men

die

worthwhile deaths.

102

Gods,

like

men,

revere

the

boys

who die for them in battle.

103

Insolence
worse than wildfire.

needs

drowning

104

Always

having

may

not

what

be

the

Health

seems

after

sickness,

in
in

we

best

good

wake

of

evil,

fortune.
sweetest
food

hunger,
the

want

goodness
and

at

the

end

of daylong labor sleep.

105

Yearning

hurts,

and
may

what
come

release
of

it

feels much like death.

106

All

people

ought

to

know

themselves

and everyone be wholly mindful.

107

To
is

be
the

Wisdom
the

is
truth

in keeping with its nature.

108

evenminded
greatest

virtue.

to

speak

and

act

Not

to

be

sounds
with

quite

such

good. The
so

fool
trick,

much

wine

and easy company, is how.

109

Stupidity
kept
than displayed.

is
a

better
secret

110

Sound
is

thinking
to

listen

well

and

are

these

choose

one course of action.

111

What
who

use
let

by

peoples

themselves

be

speechmakers,

in

they

considering
many
are

toward

fools

and

among,

choose
The

led
crowds,

without
how

wits,

and

how

the
best
one

thieves
few
good?

choose
thing,

progress
a

name

forever

honored

while

by

others

eat

the

gods,

their

way

ancient

city

toward sleep like nameless oxen.

112

Not

far

from

of

Miletus

the

son

whose
I
this

the

lived
of

name
would
one

earned
of worthy people.

Teutamas,
was

have
man
the

Bias.
it

more
good

known,
than

others
esteem

113

Give

me

from

one

among

man

ten

thousand,

if he be the best.
114

As
I

for
would

elders,
hang

in

the

With

whoever

them,

all

hands

banishment

the
of

of

No

man
than

fellow

between,

leaving

abler

say,

youths,

those

themselves,

worthier
my

Ephesians,

have

and

go

they

the

city
children.

Hermodoros
should

be

average. Thus,
citizens

would

declare,
seek

excellence

can

find

it

elsewhere among others.

115

Dogs,

by

this

same

logic,

bark

at what they cannot understand.

116

What
those
can never learn.

is
blinded

not

yet
by

bad

known
faith

117

Stupidity

is

therefore,

doomed,

to

at

cringe

every

syllable

of wisdom.

118

While
may

those

who

think

justice
on hypocrites and liars.
120

Unus dies par omni est.

mouth
themselves

keeps

high

talk

high-minded,
the

book

119

Homer
in

I
a

of

deem
trial
good

worthy
by

combat
cudgeling,

and Archilochos the same.

120

Any
equal to the rest.

121

day

stands

Ones

bearing

shapes ones fate.

122

After

death

nothing

comes

hoped

for

nor imagined.
123

The

revenant

over the dead and living.

keeps

watch

124

Nightwalker,

magus,

and

their

bacchants
of

entourage,
and

mystics

the

with

wine
stained

press,
faces

and damp wits . . .

125

Initiation,
into
so
mocks holiness.

here,
the
honored

ancient
among

mysteries
men

126

They

raise

their

at
as

voices

stone
a

idols

man

might

argue

with

his

doorpost,

they

have

understood

so little of the gods.

127

Dionysus
And
the

is
if

their

name

they
statue

for

did
of

not
the

death.
claim
drunk

they
or
about

worshipped
call

was
their

his

god,

incoherent

song

cock

everyone

their

hymn,

would

what

filth

has

know

their

made

shamelessness
of

them

and of the name of god.

128

A
may

sacred
be

entirely
Other

performed
purified

rites

confined
lumber of the body.

ritual
by
but

belong
in

seldom.
to

the

one

those
sodden

129

Tainted
to

souls
purify

are
who

who

themselves
like

steps

try

with
the

in

filth

blood
man

and

thinks

to bathe in sewage.

101

The
worthwhile deaths.

luckiest

men

die

102

Gods,

like

men,

revere

the

boys

who die for them in battle.

103

Insolence

needs

drowning

worse than wildfire.

104

Always
may

having
not

be

what
the

Health

seems

after

sickness,

best

we
good

want
fortune.
sweetest
food

in
in

hunger,
the

wake

of

goodness

evil,

and

at

the

end

of daylong labor sleep.

105

Yearning

hurts,

and

what

may

release

come

of

it

feels much like death.

106

All

people

ought

and everyone be wholly mindful.

to

know

themselves

107

To

be

is

evenminded

the

Wisdom

greatest

virtue.

to

speak

is

the

truth

and

act

in keeping with its nature.

108

Not

to

be

sounds
with

quite

such

good. The
so

and easy company, is how.

fool
trick,

much

wine

109

Stupidity

is

kept

better

secret

than displayed.

110

Sound
is

thinking
to

one course of action.

111

listen

well

and

choose

What

use

who

are

let

by

these

peoples

themselves

be

speechmakers,

in

led
crowds,

without

considering

how
they

wits,

many
are

fools

and

among,

choose

and

thieves
how

the

The

good?

best

toward

choose

one

forever

thing,

honored

while

by

others

few

eat

progress
a

name

the

gods,

their

way

ancient

city

toward sleep like nameless oxen.

112

Not
of

far

from

the
Miletus

lived

the

son

whose
I
this

of

name
would
one

earned

Teutamas,
was

have
man

Bias.
it

more

known,
than

others

the

good

esteem

me

one

man

of worthy people.

113

Give
from
if he be the best.
114

among

ten

thousand,

As
I

for
would

elders,
hang

in

the

them,

all

hands

the
of

Hermodoros

man

should

than

my

fellow

declare,

would

excellence

be

average. Thus,
citizens

whoever

city
children.

of

No

worthier

between,

leaving

banishment
say,

youths,

those

themselves,
abler

With

Ephesians,

have

and

go

they

the

can

seek
find

it

elsewhere among others.

115

Dogs,

by

this

at what they cannot understand.

same

logic,

bark

116

What
those

is

not

yet

blinded

by

bad

known
faith

can never learn.

117

Stupidity

is

therefore,
at
of wisdom.

to
every

doomed,
cringe
syllable

118

While

those

may

who

think

justice

mouth

high

themselves
keeps

talk

high-minded,
the

book

on hypocrites and liars.

120

Unus dies par omni est.

119

Homer
in

I
a

of
and Archilochos the same.

deem
trial
good

worthy
by

combat
cudgeling,

120

Any

day

stands

equal to the rest.

121

Ones
shapes ones fate.

122

bearing

After

death

nothing

comes

hoped

for

nor imagined.
123

The

revenant

keeps

watch

over the dead and living.

124

Nightwalker,
and
bacchants

magus,
their

entourage,
and

mystics

of

the

with

wine
stained

press,
faces

and damp wits . . .

125

Initiation,
into
so

here,
the
honored

ancient
among

mysteries
men

mocks holiness.

126

They

raise

their

voices

at
as

stone
a

idols

man

might

argue

with

his

doorpost,

they

have

understood

so little of the gods.

127

Dionysus
And

is

their

if

they

the

statue

they

worshipped

or
about

call
his

has

for

did

not

of

the
was

their

made

and of the name of god.

claim
drunk
god,

incoherent

song

their

would
filth

death.

cock

everyone
what

name

hymn,
know

their

shamelessness
of

them

128

A
may

sacred
be

entirely
Other

performed
purified

rites

confined

ritual
by
but

seldom.

belong
in

one

to
the

those
sodden

lumber of the body.

129

Tainted
to
are

souls
purify

who

themselves
like

with
the

try
blood
man

who

steps

in

filth

and

thinks

to bathe in sewage.
130

Silence, healing.

Notes
On the order: This book retains, in all but a few places, the ordering and
numbering of fragments from Bywaters nineteenth-century
arrangement, grouped by topic. My deviations from Bywater are noted
below. In the early twentieth century, Diels believed that an alphabetical
arrangement of the fragments, because it was random, was less
tendentious.Wheelwright, on the other hand, observes that Diels himself
has been tendentious in using the discontinuity of his arrangement to
show that the writings of Heraclitus were not a coherent whole. In my
translation, the ordering of fragments, word choice, transitional logic,
emphasis on threads of meaning, and so on serve my own best inklings
of a coherence and lucidity that have survived the destruction and
imperfect representation of what Heraclitus wrote.
1. Bywater 1 and 2 are transposed here to put the poetic passage about the
Word first, as several translators have already done.The usual translation
of the Greek logos has been Word. This reverberates with the diction in
the Standard Version of the Gospel According to John: In the beginning
was the Word. John must have had the powerful tradition of
Heraclitean thought in mind when he used this term in his original

Greek.Logos indicates not only the lexical word, but also all means of
making ideas known, as well as ideas themselves, the phenomena to
which ideas respond, and the rules that govern both phenomena and
ideas. The holistic logic (logos) of this range of meanings must have been
a large part of the words appeal, as the next fragment confirms. In the
second sentence in the Greek, ambiguous syntax may suggest that
Heraclitus separated the essences of things and said how each thing truly
is. It may mean, on the other hand, that the ignorant fail to do this. The
latter seems more plausible, since Heraclitus makes no other such
personal claim for his accomplishment, but insists repeatedly on the
limits of such claims, as in the next fragment.
2. See the note on 1.
9. The discussion of Heraclitus here omitted is from the Suda,or Suidas, an
unreliable literary encyclopedia from about the tenth century C.E.
11. See the note on 12.
12. The Greek word Sibylla, or Sibyl, appears in this fragment for the
first time ever. No one knows where it came from. Ton theon, the god
of sibylline prophecy, Ho anax of the previous fragment, was the Lord
Apollo, god of prophetic wisdom and of the cosmic fire of the sun. For
more about the word theos, see the Introduction.
16. I have provided my own examples from Hesiod and Pythagoras in this
and the next fragment, to illustrate their supposed folly. Heraclitus, no
doubt, would have chosen other examples.
17. See note on 16.
24. The usual translation of koros, as satiety, gives the literal meaning, but
loses the strong connotation of insolence, important to the personifying
logic of this and many other fragments.
31. Joness literal translation of this fragment is: If there were no sun,
there would be night, in spite of the other stars. Because the sense of the
Greek seems incomplete, I introduce the questions into my translation,
to suggest possible connections with the logic of reversal in fragments 35,
36, and elsewhere.

35. This rough paraphrase introduces the mention of gods and monsters to
clarify the distinction between the polymorphous concreteness of Hesiod
and the unifying abstract thought Heraclitus preferred.
36. The exact phrasing of the original Greek is difficult, but scholars agree
about the general sense. I have simplified the second half, which says
literally that fire mixed with various spices assumes various names.
41. This, the most famous fragment, is usually translated: You cannot step
in the same river twice. According to Plutarch, Heraclitus says, You
cannot step into the same rivers twice. My rephrasing tries to clear away
distractingly familiar language from a startling thought. It seems unlikely
to my mind that the ancient authors who refer to this idea quote
Heraclitus exactly.
42. Here Stobaeus quotes Arius Didymuss report of what Cleanthes
thought about what Heraclitus said. I have omitted this as a less
interesting and less reliable version of the same passage as reported by
Plutarch in fragment 41.
51. Heraclitus is quoted as saying, An ass prefers straw [or refuse] to
gold. Aristotle, who takes this to refer to food, does not say whether the
reference to food is explicit in the original or his own inference.
53. This fragment, like fragments 89 and 120, exists only in a Latin
paraphrase of the Greek.
54. This fragment is omitted as repetition of the second part of 53.
60. I have introduced a question here to compensate for a vagueness that
seems to come from loss of context.
66. An untranslatable pun in this fragment involves the Greek words for
bow and life, bis and bos.
76. Fragments 74, 75, and 76 overlap. This translation separates the sense
of 74 and 75, and omits 76.
89. This fragment, like fragments 53 and 120, exists only in a Latin
paraphrase of the Greek.
112. The name of the town here is Phriene. But little is known about
Phriene, so I mention nearby Miletus instead. Miletus was an important

city from the heyday of Minoan culture until the Ionian revolt in
Heraclituss time.
120. This fragment, like fragments 53 and 89, exists only in a Latin
paraphrase of the Greek.
121. This fragment is often translated: Character is fate. More literally, a
mans ethos is his daimon. A persons customary ways of being and
acting, in other words, are that persons guiding genius. I prefer the
crisper phrasing, Character is fate, because the Greek is crisp, but
meanings lost in the pithier version seem worth keeping.
129. Fragments 129 and 130 are transposed for the sake of resolution.
130. The one word, ak, has several meanings: silence, calm, lulling,
healing.