Who said this?

[T.Kirupa]

I wonder who's quote this is:

'It is not the same river a man steps in the second time and it is not the same man who steps in the river the second time.'

Arguably it is not the same river because the water would have flowed away and a new stream should have taken the place. But how could it be a different man? Is there another interpretation to what the 'man' is?

[Dori]

Perhaps the man "changed" in between steppings?

[Logos]

There are many translations/interpretations of Heraclitus' Fragment 91 :)

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SOCRATES: Heracleitus is supposed to say that all things are in motion and nothing at rest; he compares them to the stream of a river, and says that you cannot go into the same water twice.--http://www.online-literature.com/plato/cratylus/1/

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ποταμῷ γὰρ οὐκ ἔστιν ἐμϐῆναι δὶς τῷ αὐτῷ.
You cannot step twice into the same rivers.
Non si può discendere due volte nel medesimo fiume.
On ne peut pas descendre deux fois dans le même fleuve.

Commentary: this statement poses clearly the problem of the continuum as inherent in the nature of things (flux). It is not the same river obviously since the water has all moved along downstream. Nor is it the same 'you', since each instant your physical nature changes.

"some other philosophers referred to him as "the Weeping Philosopher", a humorous reference to his claim that all things flow like rivers."--http://www.archimedes-lab.org/heraclitus_aphorism.html


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[ποταμῷ γὰρ οὐκ ἔστιν εμβῆναι δὶς τῷ αὐτῷ καθ' Ἡράκλειτον οὐδὲ θνητῆς οὐσίας δὶς ἅψασθαι κατὰ ἕξιν <τῆς αὐτῆς>· ἀλλ' ὀξύτητι καὶ τάχει μεταβολῆς] σκίδνησι καὶ πάλιν συνάγει [(μᾶλλον δὲ οὐδὲ πάλιν οὐδ' ὕστερον, ἀλλ' ἅμα)] συνίσταται καὶ ἀπολείπει καὶ πρόσεισι καὶ ἄπεισι

[For, according to Heraclitus, it is not possible to step twice into the same river, nor is it possible to touch a mortal substance twice in so far as its state is concerned. But, thanks to the swiftness and speed of change,] it scatters <things> and brings <them> together again, [(or, rather, it brings together and lets go neither again nor later, but simultaneously)] it forms and dissolves, and it approaches and departs.--http://www.heraclitusfragments.com/files/ge.html

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[wahidlui]

kind of like..
Nothing endures but Change?
but really love it when they use elements in our life as metaphors...
so much more vivid!

[Livia]

are you truly the same person you were last year, last week, yesterday?
Our experiences shape who we are and if we are constantly experiencing, then are we not constantly changing in who we are?