10 quotes from ancient philosophers show they figured life out 2,000 years ago

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Modern homo sapiens have been around for about 200,000 years. 

For about 2,500 years, we've had philosophers, sages, and deep thinkers to help us guide (and understand!) our behaviors.

Here's a highlight reel of the finest in ancient wisdom. Some names you'll recognize and some might be entirely fresh. 

We're confident they're just as applicable to the arenas of Manhattan or San Francisco as they were to the plains of the Ganges or the mountains of Greece.

"No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man." — Heraclitus, lived around 500 BC in Ephesus, modern-day Turkey.

Like many badass thinkers, Heraclitus of Ephesus was born wed in the woods to contemplate the universe.

About 2300 years ago, he had an insight that would reverberate down intellectual history — that the universe is in a constant state of flux. And as the above quote asserts, so are our very identities.

The sage "is ready to use all situations and doesn't waste anything. This is called embodying the light." — Lao Tzu, alive around 600 BC in China.

The Lao Tzu started Taoism in 2500 years ago in China. Scholars say he's "semi-legendary," since Lao Tzu just means "Old Man" and nobody knows who he actually was.

More importantly, he left us the inscrutably playful text the "Tao de Cheng." It's full of zingers, such as the above observation, which basically says every situation you find yourself in, no matter how bad it seems, is fundamentally workable. 

"Suffering exists." — Siddhartha Gautama, lived around 500 BC in the plain of the Ganges, modern India.

Often mistranslated as the much less hopeful life is suffering, Siddartha Gautama's observation that suffering simply exists is the bedrock of the religion built around his teachings — Buddhism. 

When you recognize that suffering exists, it's a lot easier to avoid getting freaked out by it.