"you can't step in the same river twice" meaning in English

See you can't step in the same river twice in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Proverb

Audio: En-au-you can't step in the same river twice.ogg [Australia]
Etymology: Direct translation from Heraclitus, "δὶς ἐς τὸν αὐτὸν ποταμὸν οὐκ ἂν ἐμβαίης." Head templates: {{head|en|proverb|head=}} you can't step in the same river twice, {{en-proverb}} you can't step in the same river twice
  1. (idiomatic) It is not possible to repeat past experiences, as time changes all things. Wikipedia link: Heraclitus Tags: idiomatic Related terms: you can't go home again
    Sense id: en-you_can't_step_in_the_same_river_twice-en-proverb-8fJTIswc Categories (other): English proverbs

Download JSON data for you can't step in the same river twice meaning in English (1.5kB)

{
  "etymology_templates": [],
  "etymology_text": "Direct translation from Heraclitus, \"δὶς ἐς τὸν αὐτὸν ποταμὸν οὐκ ἂν ἐμβαίης.\"",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "proverb",
        "head": ""
      },
      "expansion": "you can't step in the same river twice",
      "name": "head"
    },
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "you can't step in the same river twice",
      "name": "en-proverb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "proverb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English proverbs",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "It is not possible to repeat past experiences, as time changes all things."
      ],
      "id": "en-you_can't_step_in_the_same_river_twice-en-proverb-8fJTIswc",
      "links": [
        [
          "repeat",
          "repeat"
        ],
        [
          "experience",
          "experience"
        ],
        [
          "time",
          "time"
        ],
        [
          "change",
          "change"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) It is not possible to repeat past experiences, as time changes all things."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "you can't go home again"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "Heraclitus"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-you can't step in the same river twice.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/4/4d/En-au-you_can%27t_step_in_the_same_river_twice.ogg/En-au-you_can%27t_step_in_the_same_river_twice.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4d/En-au-you_can%27t_step_in_the_same_river_twice.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "you can't step in the same river twice"
}
{
  "etymology_templates": [],
  "etymology_text": "Direct translation from Heraclitus, \"δὶς ἐς τὸν αὐτὸν ποταμὸν οὐκ ἂν ἐμβαίης.\"",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "proverb",
        "head": ""
      },
      "expansion": "you can't step in the same river twice",
      "name": "head"
    },
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "you can't step in the same river twice",
      "name": "en-proverb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "proverb",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "you can't go home again"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English proverbs",
        "English terms with audio links"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "It is not possible to repeat past experiences, as time changes all things."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "repeat",
          "repeat"
        ],
        [
          "experience",
          "experience"
        ],
        [
          "time",
          "time"
        ],
        [
          "change",
          "change"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) It is not possible to repeat past experiences, as time changes all things."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "Heraclitus"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-you can't step in the same river twice.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/4/4d/En-au-you_can%27t_step_in_the_same_river_twice.ogg/En-au-you_can%27t_step_in_the_same_river_twice.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4d/En-au-you_can%27t_step_in_the_same_river_twice.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "you can't step in the same river twice"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-03-12 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-03-01 using wiktextract (68773ab and 5f6ddbb). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.