Ouden Menei

I've sometimes thought that people miss the recursive elegance of Heraclitus' most famous assertion:

πάντα χωρεῖ καὶ οὐδὲν μένει
Panta chōrei kai ouden menei
Everything changes and nothing remains the same.

'Aha,' we think: but this contradicts itself, for change is precisely the constant that does remain the same. The line should be Everything changes and nothing remains the same except change.' 'No,' Heraclitus says: 'for the change everything undergoes itself continually changes.' 'But then,' we try again, 'it ought to be: Everything changes and nothing remains the same except the continuity with which change itself changes.' 'No, you still don't see,' returns Heraclitus, politely. 'That change is also, itself, a changeable thing.' 'Well in that case...' we say, settling in for the long haul.

The longest, in fact.