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Heraclitus

Greek philosopher of Ephesus, c. 535 BC–c. 475 BC. 1 explained quote.

Portrait of Heraclitus
≈ Paraphrase · Start here
“No man ever steps in the same river twice.”
Heraclitus · 500 BC
≈ Paraphrase
“No man ever steps in the same river twice.”
Heraclitus · Fragments, as reported by Plato (Cratylus 402a) and Plutarch · 500 BC · Philosopher

Everything flows and changes, so the river is never the same twice, and neither are you. The popular wording is a later paraphrase of Heraclitus's surviving fragments.

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About Heraclitus

Heraclitus lived in Ephesus, a Greek city on the coast of what is now Turkey. His book is lost, and his ideas survive only as short fragments quoted by later writers.

He taught that everything is in constant change and that opposites are bound together, and even in ancient times he was nicknamed “the obscure” for his riddling style.