“The eyes are more accurate witnesses than the ears.”Heraclit · Fragmente · -500 · Fragmente, DK B101a
See the fact yourself, don't take it secondhand: every retelling adds an error.
Heraclit ranks the senses by proximity to the source: sight catches the thing in action, hearing receives only an account, already filtered by whoever tells it. The mechanism is distance from the fact: every verbal transmission adds interpretation and error. A buyer who watches the car running learns more than one who merely believes the seller's description.
Why it matters Useful in an age of rumors and secondhand accounts: verify directly what can be verified before believing what you were told.