Diogenes quotes

Young men not ought to marry yet, and old men never ought to marry at all.

I pissed on the man who called me a dog. Why was he so surprised?

I am not an Athenian or a Greek, but a citizen of the world.

Plato had defined Man as an animal, biped and featherless, and was applauded. Diogenes plucked a fowl and brought it into the lecture-room with the words, "Behold Plato's man!"

It takes a wise man to discover a wise man.

To Xeniades, who had purchased Diogenes at the slave market, he said, "Come, see that you obey orders."

To the question what wine he found pleasant to drink, he replied, "That for which other people pay."

He has the most who is most content with the least.

Virtue cannot dwell with wealth either in a city or in a house.

What I like to drink most is wine that belongs to others.

The great thieves lead away the little thief.

I do not know whether there are gods, but there ought to be.

I like best the wine drunk at the cost of others.

I am called a dog because I fawn on those who give me anything, I yelp at those who refuse, and I set my teeth in rascals.

Wise kings generally have wise counselors; and he must be a wise man himself who is capable of distinguishing one.

Love comes with hunger.

The most beautiful thing in the world is freedom of speech.

When Alexander the Great addressed him with greetings, and asked if he wanted anything, Diogenes replied "Yes, stand a little out of my sunshine."

Lust is a strong tower of mischief, and hath in it many defenders, as neediness, anger, paleness, discord, love, and longing.

The question was put to him, what hope is; and his answer was, "The dream of a waking man."

The noblest people are those despising wealth, learning, pleasure and life; esteeming above them poverty, ignorance, hardship and death.

There is a false love that will make you something you are not.

All things are in common among friends.

I have nothing to ask but that you would remove to the other side, that you may not, by intercepting the sunshine, take from me what you cannot give.

Perdiccas threatened to put him to death unless he came to him, "That's nothing wonderful," Diogenes said, "for a beetle or a tarantula would do the same."

In a rich man's house there is no place to spit but his face.

One original thought is worth a thousand mindless quotings

The sun, too, shines into cesspools and is not polluted.

The mob is the mother of tyrants.

He was breakfasting in the marketplace, and the bystanders gathered round him with cries of "dog." "It is you who are dogs," cried he, "when you stand round and watch me at my breakfast."

Fools! You think of "god" as a sentient being. God is the word used to represent a force. This force created nothing, it just helps things along. It does not answer prayers, although it may make you think of a way to solve a problem. It has the power to influence you, but not decide for you.

To become self-educated you should condemn yourself for all those things that you would criticize others.

One day, observing a child drinking out of his hands, he cast away the cup from his wallet with the words, "A child has beaten me in plainness of living."

If you are to be kept right, you must possess either good friends or red-hot enemies. The one will warn you, the other will expose you.

Being asked where in Greece he saw good men, he replied, "Good men nowhere, but good boys at Sparta."

Chilo advised, "not to speak evil of the dead."

When asked what was the proper time for supper: If you are a rich man, whenever you please; and if you are a poor man, whenever you can.

Wise leaders generally have wise counselors because it takes a wise person themselves to distinguish them.

Of what use is a philosopher who doesn't hurt anybody's feelings?

The art of being a slave is to rule one's master.

The sacrifice of Diogenes to all the gods.

As a matter of self-preservation, a man needs good friends or ardent enemies, for the former instruct him and the latter take him to task.

The health and vigor necessary for the practice of what is good, depend equally on both mind and body.

The only way to gall and fret effectively is for yourself to be a good and honest man.

You will become a teacher of yourself when for the same things that you blame others, you also blame yourself.

There is only a finger's difference between a wise man and a fool.

The Sun visits cesspools without being defiled.

Poverty is a virtue which one can teach oneself.

If I lack awareness, then why should I care what happens to me when I am dead?

Aristotle dines when it seems good to King Philip, but Diogenes when he himself pleases.

Dogs and philosophers do the greatest good and get the fewest rewards.

A friend is one soul abiding in two bodies.

It was a favorite expression of Theophrastus that time was the most valuable thing that a man could spend.

No man is hurt but by himself. ...Literally by how he interprets what happens to him. If he focusses on how it could have been better, he will be hurt. If he focusses on how it could have been worse, he will be happy. The same is true for women too.

To arrive at perfection, a man should have very sincere friends or inveterate enemies; because he would be made sensible of his good or ill conduct, either by the censures of the one or the admonitions of the other.

If your cloak was a gift, I appreciate it; if it was a loan, I'm not through with it yet.

On being asked by someone how he could become famous, Diogenes responded: 'By worrying as little as possible about fame

People who talk well but do nothing are like musical intruments; the sound is all they have to offer.

He once begged alms of a statue, and, when asked why he did so, replied, "To get practice in being refused."

Asked where he came from, he said, "I am a citizen of the world."

It is not that I am mad, it is only that my head is different from yours.

Boasting, like gilded armour, is very different inside from outside.

When I look upon seamen, men of science and philosophers, man is the wisest of all beings; when I look upon priests and prophets nothing is as contemptible as man.

When some one boasted that at the Pythian games he had vanquished men, Diogenes replied, "Nay, I defeat men, you defeat slaves."

When two friends part they should lock up each other's secrets and exchange keys. The truly noble mind has no resentments.

Other dogs bite only their enemies, whereas I bite also my friends in order to save them.

We have complicated every simple gift of the gods.

We come into the world alone and we die alone. Why, in life, should we be any less alone?

Protagoras asserted that there are two sides to every question, exactly opposite to each other.

When some one reminded him that the people of Sinope had sentenced him to exile, he said, "And I sentenced them to stay at home."

I am looking for a human.

Ability in man is an apt good, if it be applied to good ends.

Even if I am but a pretender to wisdom, that in itself is philosophy.

Aristotle was once asked what those who tell lies gain by it. Said he - That when they speak truth they are not believed.

Aren't you ashamed, you who walk backward along the whole path of existence, and blame me for walking backward along the path of the promenade?

We have two ears and one tongue so that we would listen more and talk less.

Democritus says, "But we know nothing really; for truth lies deep down".

It is the privilege of the gods to want nothing, and of godlike men to want little.

Good men nowhere, but good boys at Sparta.

Why not whip the teacher when the pupil misbehaves?

Education gives sobriety to the young, comfort to the old, riches to the poor and is an ornament to the rich.

I am Diogenes the Dog. I nuzzle the kind, bark at the greedy and bite scoundrels.

Calumny is only the noise of madmen.

He was seized and dragged off to King Philip, and being asked who he was, replied, "A spy upon your insatiable greed."

When the slave auctioneer asked in what he was proficient, he replied, "In ruling people."

As houses well stored with provisions are likely to be full of mice, so the bodies of those that eat much are full of diseases.

The foundation of every state is the education of its youth.

Discourse on virtue and they pass by in droves. Whistle and dance the shimmy, and you've got an audience.

Those who have virtue always in their mouths, and neglect it in practice, are like a harp, which emits a sound pleasing to others, while itself is insensible of the music.

By worrying as little as possible about fame.

I am looking for an honest man.

If only it was as easy to banish hunger by rubbing the belly as it is to masturbate.

Nothing can be produced out of nothing.

Man is the most intelligent of the animals - and the most silly.

Solon used to say that speech was the image of actions; . . . that laws were like cobwebs, - for that if any trifling or powerless thing fell into them, they held it fast; while if it were something weightier, it broke through them and was off.

The chief good is the suspension of the judgment [especially negative judgement], which tranquillity of mind follows like its shadow.

We are more curious about the meaning of dreams than about things we see when awake.

He lit a lamp in broad daylight and said, as he went about, "I am looking for a human."

Antisthenes used to say that envious people were devoured by their own disposition, just as iron is by rust. Envy of others comes from comparing what they have with what the envious person has, rather than the envious person realising they have more than what they could have and certainly more than some others and being grateful. It is really just an inability to get a correct perspective on their lives.

Most men are within a finger's breadth of being mad.

Blushing is the color of virtue.

Let us not unlearn what we have already learned

I threw my cup away when I saw a child drinking from his hands at the trough.

Once he saw the officials of a temple leading away some one who had stolen a bowl belonging to the treasurers, and said, "The great thieves are leading away the little thief."

Self-taught poverty is a help toward philosophy, for the things which philosophy attempts to teach by reasoning, poverty forces us to practice.

No man is hurt but by himself.