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On the Soul

Heraclitus·Greek·fragmentary

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Heraclitus saw the soul as made of fire, the noblest element. A dry, fiery soul is wise; a wet soul is foolish or drunk. These fragments, distinct from his cosmic writings, concern self-knowledge and the depth of inner life.

You would not find the boundaries of the soul by travelling in any direction, so deep is its measure.

The soul has a logos that increases itself.

A dry soul is wisest and best.

It is hard to fight with anger, for what it wants it buys at the cost of soul.

I searched for myself.

To souls it is death to become water, to water death to become earth. But from earth comes water, and from water soul.

A man when drunk is led by a beardless boy, stumbling and not knowing where he goes, having his soul moist.

The waking have one common world, but the sleeping turn aside each into a world of his own.

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