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About this quote

What does it mean?
Wishes alone do not improve outcomes; reality follows its own logic.
In plain terms
Wanting something doesn’t make it happen.
What can you take from it?
Focus on actions, not just desires.

Where it applies

  • goal setting
  • coping with disappointment

Putting it to work

  • taking concrete steps
  • managing expectations

Questions to consider

  • How do wishes influence behavior?
  • When are wishes useful?

Another view

It may down the power of intention.

More from Heraclitus

  1. You could not step twice into the same river; for other waters are ever flowing on to you.

    Permalink to quote #10
  2. Couples are wholes and not wholes, what agrees disagrees, the concordant is discordant. From all things one and from one all things.

    Permalink to quote #12
  3. Logos is day and night, winter and summer, war and peace, surfeit and hunger.

    Permalink to quote #9

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