Heraclitus fragments in Heidegger


Fragment Greek Heidegger Source
1 τοῦ δὲ λόγου τοῦδ᾽ ἐόντος ἀεὶ ἀξύνετοι γίνονται ἄνθρωποι καὶ πρόσθεν ἢ ἀκοῦσαι καὶ ἀκούσαντες τὸ πρῶτον· γινομένων γὰρ πάντων κατὰ τὸν λόγον τόνδε ἀπείροισιν ἐοίκασι, πειρώμενοι καὶ ἐπέων καὶ ἔργων τοιούτων, ὁκοίων ἐγὼ διηγεῦμαι κατὰ φύσιν διαιρέων ἕκαστον καὶ φράζων ὅκως ἔχει· τοὺς δὲ ἄλλους ἀνθρώπους λανθάνει ὁκόσα ἐγερθέντες ποιοῦσιν, ὅκωσπερ ὁκόσα εὕδοντες ἐπιλανθάνονται
But while λόγος constantly remains itself, human beings behave as those who do not comprehend (ἀξύνετοι), both before they have heard and after they have first heard. For everything becomes a being κατὰ τὸν λόγον τόνδε, in accordance with and in consequence of this λόγος; yet they (human beings) resemble those who have never dared anything through experience, although they attempt words and works such as I carry out, laying out each thing κατὰ φύσιν, according to Being, and explicating how it behaves. But as for the other human beings (the other human beings as they all are, οἱ πολλοί <the many>), what they really do while awake is concealed from them, just as what they did in their sleep conceals itself from them again afterwards. [ItM 140], [ItM 145], [B&T 262], [FS 1], [BCAP 50], [HS 18]
For although everything happens according to this λόγος [reason, speech, word]." [HS 7]
2 διὸ δεῖ ἕπεσθαι τῷ ξυνῷ. τοῦ λόγου δ᾽ ἐόντος ξυνοῦ ζώουσιν οἱ πολλοὶ ὡς ἰδίαν ἔχοντες φρόνησιν. Hence one must follow the Together in beings, that is, adhere to it; but whereas λόγος essentially unfolds as this Together in beings, the mass lives as if each had his own understanding (sense). [ItM 141], [B&Tr 90]
3 (Περὶ μεγέθους ἡλίου) εὖρος ποδὸν ἀνθρωπείου. [HS 42]
6 Ὁ ἥλιος {…} νέος ἐφ᾽ ἡμέρῃ ἐστίν, ἀλλ᾽ ἀεὶ νέος συνεχῶς. [HS 43]
7 εἰ πάντα τὰ ὄντα καπνὸς γένοιτο, ῥῖνες ἂν διαγνοῖεν. [HS 18]
8 τὸ ἀντίξουν συμφέρον καὶ ἐκ τῶν διαφερόντων καλλίστην ἁρμονίαν.
What stands in opposition carries itself over here and over there, the one to the other, it gathers itself from itself. [ItM 146], [ItM 154], [ItM 192], [BCAP 49]
Going-toward-and-against, a bringing-together; and from out of the bringing-apart, the one resplendent jointure. [H 110]
9 ὄνους σύρματ᾽ἂν ἑλέσθαι μᾶλλον ἢ χρυσόν. Asses may prefer chaff to gold. [H 114], [EGT 120]
10 Συνάψιες ὅλα καὶ οὐχ ὅλα. Συμφερόμενον διαφερόμενον, συνᾶιδον διᾶιδον, καὶ ἐκ πάντων ἓν καὶ ἐξ ἑνὸς πάντα. out of everything, one; and out of one, everything [HS 21], [HS 133]
11 Πᾶν γὰρ ἑρπετὸν πληγῇ νέμεται. [HS 34]
16 τὸ μὴ δῦνόν ποτε πῶς ἄν τις λάθοι; From the not ever submerging (thing), how may anyone be concealed (from it)? [H 37], [EGT 104], [HS 72]
19 λόγος ἀκοῦσαι οὐκ ἐπιστάμενοι οὐδ᾽ εἰπεῖν are able neither to hear nor to say [ItM 147]
26 ἄνθρωπος ἐν εὐφρόνῃ φάος ἅπτεται ἑαυτῷ [ἀποθανὼν] ἀποσβεσθεὶς ὄψεις, ζῶν δὲ ἅπτεται τεθνεῶτος εὔδων, [ἀποσβεσθεὶς ὄψεις], ἐγρηγορὼς ἅπτεται εὕδοντος Man kindles a light for himself in the night-time, when he has died but is alive. The sleeper, whose vision has been put out, lights up from the dead; he that is awake lights up from the sleeping. [HS 133]
29 αἱρεῦνται γὰρ ἓν ἀντὶ ἁπάντων οἱ ἄριστοι, κλέος ἀέναον θνητῶν, οἱ δὲ πολλοὶ κεκόρηνται ὅκωσπερ κτήνεα for the noblest choose one thing above all others: glory, which constantly persists, in contrast to what dies; but the many are sated like cattle. [ItM 113], [HS 21]
30 κόσμον τόνδε, τὸν αὐτὸν ἁπάντων, οὔτε τις θεῶν οὔτα ἀνθρώπων ἐποίησεν, ἀλλ᾽ἦν ἀεὶ καὶ ἔστιν καὶ ἔσται πῦρ ἀείζωον, ἁπτόμενον μέτρα καὶ ἀποσβεννύμενον μέτρα. This adornment mentioned here, the same in all that is adorned, is neither something produced by gods nor by human beings (anyone), rather it was always and is (always) and will be (always): (namely) fire perpetually emerging, the expanses (clearings) igniting themselves, the expanses extinguishing (occluding) themselves (into the clearingless). [H 124], [EGT 119], [BCAP 49], [HS 55]
32 ἓν τὸ σοφὸν μοῦνον λέγεσθαι οὐκ ἐθέλει καὶ ἐθέλει Ζηνὸς ὄνομα
The One, alone to be thought, does not let itself and lets itself be called by the name ‘Zeus’ (i.e., The Lightning). [H 98], [EGT 72], [BCAP 49]
The One—which is the sole to-be-known—withholds itself from being said, while at the same time offering itself up as the sayable, in the name of Zeus (i.e., of ‘life,’ that is, of that which emerges luminously). [H 190]
34 Ἀξύνετοι ἀκούσαντες κωφοῖσιν ἐοίκασι˙ φάτις αὐτοῖσιν μαθτυρεῖ παρεόντας ἀπεῖναι. [ItM 143]
35 _ _ χρὴ γὰρ εὖ μάλα πολλῶν ἵστορας φιλοσόφους ἄνδρας εἶναι καθ᾽ Ἡράκλειτον. [H 98]
41 εἶναι γὰρ ἓν τὸ σοφόν, ἐπίστασθαι γνώμην, ὁτέη ἐκυβέρνησε πάντα διὰ πάντων. [H 264], [HS 6], [BCAP 50]
43 ὕβριν χρὴ σβεννύναι μᾶλλον ἤ πυρκαϊήν.
(The) presumptuous mismeasurement it is necessary to extinguish, even before (the) conflagration. [H 244]
Measureless pride needs to be extinguished sooner than a raging fire. [EGT 75]
45 ψυχῆς πείρατα ἰὼν οὐκ ἂν ἐξεύροιο, πᾶσαν ἐπιπορευόμενος ὁδόν· οὕτω βαθὺν λόγον ἔχει. The outermost extremities of the soul you will surely not be able to find on your course, even if you were to wander down every single path—so far-reaching is its harvest (gathering). [H 213], [BCAP 50]
47 μὴ εἰκῆ περὶ τῶν μεγίστων συμβαλλώμεθα. concerning the highest things, let us not collect our words out of the blue, that is, rashly. [HS 14]
49 εἷς ἐμοὶ μύριοι, ἐὰν ἄριστος ἦι. One counts more than ten thousand, if he is a noble one. [H 292]
50 οὐκ ἐμοῦ, ἀλλὰ τοῦ λόγου ἀκούσαντας ὁμολογειν σοφόν ἐστιν ἓν πάντα εἶναι
If you have listened not merely to me, but rather have listened to the Logos (in obedience to it, hearkening to it), then knowledge (which subsists therein) is to say the same as the Logos: one is all. [H 187], [FS 6], [HS 8], [BCAP 50]
If you have heard not me, but λόγος, then it is wise to say accordingly: all is one. [ItM 143]
Do not listen to me, the mortal speaker, but be in hearkening to the Laying that gathers; first belong to this and then you hear properly; such hearing is when a letting-lie-together-before occurs by which the gathering letting-lie, the Laying that gathers, lies before us as gathered; when a letting-lie of the letting-lie-before occurs, the fateful comes to pass; then the truly fateful, i.e. destiny alone, is: the unique One unifying All. [EGT 75]
51 παλίντονος ἁρμονίη ὅκωσπερ τόξου καὶ λύρης. The jointure (namely, the self-differentiating) unfolds drawing-back, as shows itself in the image of the bow and lyre. [H 115], [BCAP 49]
52 Αἰὼν παῖς ἐστι παίζων πεσσεύων· παιδὸς ἡ βασιληίη. The Geschick of being, a child that plays, shifting the pawns: the royalty of a child. [PR 113]
53 πόλεμος πάντων μὲν πατήρ ἐστι, πάντων δὲ βασιλεύς, καὶ τοὺς μὲν θεοὺς ἔδειξε τοὺς δὲ ἀνθρώπους, τοὺς μὲν δούλους ἐποίησε τοὺς δὲ ̀ἐλευθέρους. Confrontation is indeed for all (that comes to presence) the sire (who lets emerge), but (also) for all the preserver that holds sway. For it lets some appear as gods, others as human beings, some it produces (sets forth) as slaves, but others as the free. [ItM 67], [EGT 119], [HS 23]
54 ἁρμονίη ἀφανὴς φανερῆς κρείττων
Higher and more powerful than the harmony lying open to the day is the harmony which does not show itself (is concealed). [FCM 29]
the harmony that does not show itself (immediately and without further ado) is more powerful than the harmony that is (always) evident [ItM 148]
Inconspicuous jointure, more precious than the conjoined that insistently pushes toward appearance. [H 108]
56 ἐξηπάτηνται, (φησίν,) οἱ ἄνθρωποι πρὸς τὴν γνῶσιν τῶν φανερῶν παραπλησίως Ὁμήρῳ, ὅς ἐγένετο τῶν Ἑλλήνων σοφώτερος πάντων. ἐκεῖνόν τε γὰρ παῖδες φθεῖρας κατακτείνοντες ἐξηπάτησαν εἰπόντες· ὅσα εἴδομεν καὶ ἐλάβομεν, ταῦτα ἀπολείπομεν, ὅσα δὲ οὔτε εἴδομεν οὔτ' ἐλάβομεν, ταῦτα φέρομεν. [BCAP 49]
57 Διδάσκαλος δὲ πλείστων Ἡσίοδος· τοῦτον ἐπὶστανται πλεῖστα εἰδέναι, ὅστις ἡμέρην καὶ εὐφρόνην οὐκ ἐγίνωσκεν· ἔστι γὰρ ἕν. [HS 43]
60 Ὁδὸς ἄνω κάτω μία καὶ ωὑτή. [BCAP 49]
61 Θάλασσα ὕδωρ καθαρώτατον καὶ μιαρώτατον, ἰσχύσι μὲν πότιμον καὶ σωτήριον, ἀνθρώποις δὲ ἄποτον καὶ ὀλέθριον. [BCAP 49]
62 Ἀθάνατοι θνητοί, θνητοὶ ἀθάνατοι. ζῶντες τὸν ἐκείνων θάνατον, τὸν δὲ ἐκείνων βίον τεθνεῶτες. [BCAP 49]
64 τὰ δὲ πάντα οἰακίζει Κεραυνός.
But lightning steers beings as a whole. [H 123], [HS 4], [HS 18]
But lightning steers (in presencing) the totality (of what is present). [EGT 72]
66 πάντα γὰρ τὸ πῦρ ἐπελθὸν κρινεῖ καὶ καταλήψεται. All things, fire, ceaselessly advancing, shall (joining them) set out and lift away. [H 123], [HS 26]
67 Ὁ θεός ἡμέρη εὐφρόνη, χειμών θέρος, πόλεμος εἰρήνη, κορός λιμός [τάναντία ἅπαντα˙ οὖτος ὃ νοῦς], ἀλλοιοῦται δὲ ὅκωσπερ <πῦρ>, ὁπόταν συμμιγῇ θυώμασιν, ὀνομάζεται καθ᾽ ἡδονὴν ἑκάστου. [HS 30], [BCAP 49]
72 ᾯ μάλιστα διηνεκῶς ὁμιλοῦσι λόγῳ τῳ τὰ ὅλα διοκοῦντι, τούτῳ διαφέρονται, καὶ οἷς καθ᾽ ἡμέρην ἐγκυροῦσι, ταῦτα αὐτοῖς ξένα φαίνεται.
“for they turn their backs on that with which they traffic the most, λόγος, and what they run into every day appears alien to them. [ItM 144], [HS 48]
From that to which for the most part they are bound and by which they are thoroughly sustained, the λόγος, from that they separate themselves; and it becomes manifest: whatever they daily encounter remains foreign (in its presenting) to them. [EGT 121]
That to which they are most turned in a manner of bearing—namely, the Λόγος —is precisely that from which they rend themselves asunder. Therefore also that (i.e., the many various things), they encounter daily. [H 253]
73 οὐ δεῖ ὥσπερ καθεύδοντας ποιεῖν καὶ λέγειν. one should not act <ποιεῖν> and talk <λέγειν> as if asleep. [ItM 142]
78 ἦθος γὰρ ἀνθρώπειον μὲν οὐκ ἔχει γνώμας, θεῖον δὲ ἔχει. The sojourn—namely, of the human (amidst beings as a whole)—may not have γνώμαι: the godly, however, does. [H 262], [BCAP 49]
80 εἰδέναι δὲ χρὴ τὸν πόλεμον ἐόντα ξυνὸν καὶ δίκη ἔριν, καὶ γινόμενα πάντα κατ᾽ ἔριν καὶ χρεών. but it is necessary to keep in view confrontational setting-asunder <Aus-einander-setzung> essentially unfolding as bringing-together, and fittingness as the opposed [ItM 185], [HS 24]
88 Ταὐτὸ τ’ ἕνι ζῶν καὶ τεθνηκὸς καὶ (τὸ) ἐγρηγορὸς καὶ καθεῦδον καὶ νέον καὶ γηραιόν· τάδε γὰρ μεταπεσόντα ἐκεῖνά ἐστι κἀκεῖνα πάλιν μεταπεσόντα ταῦτα. [BCAP 49]
89 ὁ Ἡ. φησι τοῖς ἐγρηγορόσιν ἕνα καὶ κοινὸν κόσμον εἶναι, τῶν δὲ κοιμωμένων ἕκαστον εἰς ἴδιον ἀποστρέφεσθαι. a single and common world belongs to the awake, but each of the sleeping turns to his own world [MFL 172]
90 Πυρός τε ἀνταμοιβὴ τὰ πάντα καὶ πῦρ ἁπάντων ὅκωσπερ χρυσοῦ χρήματα καὶ χρημάτων χρυσός. [BCAP 49]
93 Ὀ ἄναξ, οὗ τὸ μαντεῖόν ἐστι τὸ ἐν Δελφοῖς, οὔτε λέγει οὔτε κρύπτει, ἀλλὰ σημαίνει.
The lord whose soothsaying happens at Delphi οὔτε λέγει οὔτε κρύπτει, he neither gathers nor conceals, ἀλλὰ σημαίνει, but instead he gives indications. [ItM 189], [Pm 213]
The supreme one, whose place of the intimating saying is Delphi, neither (only) reveals, nor (only) conceals, but rather gives signs. [H 133]
The master, whose Oracle is at Delphi, neither speaks out, nor does he conceal, but gives a sign [signifies]. [FCM 27]
94 Ἥλιος γὰρ οὐχ ὑπερβήσεται μέτρα· εἰ δὲ μή, Ἐρινύες μιν Δίκης ἐπίκουροι ἐξευρήσουσιν. [HS 41]
99 εἰ μὴ ἥλιος ἦν, ἕνεκα τῶν ἄλλων ἄστρων εὐφρόνη ἂν ἦν. [HS 42]
100 Περιόδους: ὧν ὁ ἥλιος ἐπιστάτης ὢν καὶ σκοπὸς ὁρίζειν καὶ βραβεύειν καὶ ἀναδεικνύναι καὶ ἀναφαίνειν μεταβολὰς καὶ ὥρας αἳ πάντα φέρουσι. [HS 24]
101 ἐδιζησάμην ἐμεωυτόν I have sought after myself. [H 235]
102 Τῷ μὲν θεῷ καλὰ πάντα καὶ ἀγαθὰ καὶ δίκαια, ἄνθρωποι δὲ ἃ μὲν ἄδικα ὑπειλήφασιν ἃ δὲ δίκαια. [HS 24], [BCAP 49]
103 Ξυνὸν γὰρ ἀρχὴ καὶ πέρας ἐπὶ κύκλου περιφερείας. gathered in itself, the same is the beginning and the end in the circumference of the circle. [ItM 145], [BCAP 49]
108 ὁκόσων λόγους ἤκουσα, οὐδεὶς ἀφικνεῖται ἐς τοῦτο, ὥστε γινώςκειν ὅτι σοφόν ἐστι πάντων κεχωρισμένον. As many λόγοι as I have (already) heard, none of them have ever reached that from out of which they become acquainted with the fact that the proper to-be-known, in relation to all beings, unfolds from out of its (own) region. [H 247], [HS 25], [BCAP 49]
111 Ἀνθρώποις γίνεσθαι ὁκόσα θέλουσιν οὐκ ἄμεινον. Νοῦσος ὑγιείην ἐποίησεν ἡδὺ καὶ ἀγαθόν, λιμὸς κόρον, κάματος ἀνάπαυσιν [BCAP 49]
112 τὸ φρονεῖν ἀρετὴ μεγίστη, καὶ σοφίη ἀληθέα λέγειν καὶ ποιεῖν κατὰ φύσιν ἐπαΐοντας (τοῦ Λόγου).
Thinking is the highest completeness, and wisdom is to say and to do the true according to the essence of things, hearkening to them. [H 269]
Reflective thinking is (the) nobility, because knowing is to gather the unconcealed (from out of concealment into unconcealment) in the manner of bringing-forth into the set-forth and set-up in view of emerging (and all this, nevertheless) within the drawing-out drawing-in relation toward the originary forgathering. [H 279]
The highest that man has in his power is to meditate [upon the whole], and wisdom [lucidity] is to say and to do what is unconcealed as unconcealed, in accordance with the prevailing of things, listening out for them. [FCM 27]
Healthful thinking is the greatest perfection: and wisdom consists in saying the truth and acting in accordance with nature, listening to it. [EGT 70]
114 ξὺν νόῳ λέγοντας ἰσχυρίζεσθαι χρὴ τῷ ξυνῷ πάντων, ὅκωσπερ νόμῳ πόλις καὶ πολὺ ἰσχυροτέρως. τρέφονται γὰρ πάντες οἱ ἀνθρώπειοι νόμοι ὑπὸ ἑνὸς τοῦ θείου. if we speak mindfully we must base our strength on what is common to all, as the city on law, and far more strongly [ItM 145], [FS 5], [HS 25], [BCAP 50]
115 ψυχῆς ἐστι λόγος ἑαυτὸν αὔξων.
To the soul belongs a harvesting that enriches itself. [H 291], [BCAP 50]
Dasein is the being that enriches itself out of itself in the manner of understanding. [MFL 211]
116 Ἀνθρώποισι πᾶσι μέτεστι γινώσκειν ἑωυτοὺς καὶ σωφρονεῖν. [BCAP 45], [BCAP 50]
118 αὔη ψυχὴ σοφωτάτη καὶ ἀρίστη. The sober soul is the most knowing and also the most noble. [H 292]
119 Ἡράκλειτος ἔφη ὡς ἦθος ἀνθρώπῳ δαίμων Man dwells, insofar as he is man, in the nearness of god [BW 256], [Pm 269]
120 ἠοῦς καὶ ἑσπέρας τέρματα ἡ ἄρκτος καὶ ἀντίον τῆς ἄρκτου οὖρος αἰθρίου Διός [HS 41]
122 ἀγχιβατεῖν / ἀμφισβατεῖν : ἀγχιβασίην Ἡράκλειτος going-up-to [CPC 99]
123 φύσις κρύπτεσθαι φιλεῖ
Being [emerging appearance] intrinsically inclines toward self-concealment. [ItM 126], [HS 45]
Emerging to self-concealing gives favor. [H 84]
Rising (out of self-concealing) bestows favor upon self-concealing. [EGT 114]
the being in itself and its essence loves to conceal itself and to remain in concealment [MFL 217]
beings endeavor to conceal themselves, or more clearly: not to be there [NHS 27]
beings contain an intrinsic striving to self-concealment. [BWP 16]
The holding sway of beings, i.e. beings in their being, loves to conceal itself. [ET 9]
The prevailing of things has in itself a striving to conceal itself. [FCM 27]
To self-revealing there belongs a self-concealing. [PR 70]
Self-hiding belongs to the predilection [Vor-liebe] of being [Pm 229]
124 ἄλογον δὲ κἀκεῖνο δόξειεν ἂν, εἰ ὁ μὲν ὅλος οὐρανὸς καὶἕκαστα τῶν μερῶν ἅπαντ' ἐν τάξει καὶ λόγῳ, καὶ μορφαῖς καὶ δυνάμεσιν καὶ περιόδοις, ἐν δὲ ταῖς ἀρχαῖς μηθὲν τοιοῦτον, ἀλλ' ὥσπερ σάρμα εἰκῆ κεχυμένον ὁ κάλλιστος, φησὶν Ἡράκλειτος, [ὁ] κόσμος.
the most beautiful world is like a dungheap, cast down in shambles [ItM 148]
Just as a heap of randomly poured-out things is (yet) the most beautiful adornment. [H 125]
126 Τὰ ψυχρὰ θέρεται, θερμὸν ψύχεται, ὑργὸν αὐαίνεται, καρφαλέον νοτίζεται. [BCAP 49]

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