Diogenes Quotes

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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#9. 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.

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#10. 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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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#18. Modesty is the color of virtue.

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#19. 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.

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

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#21. 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.

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

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

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#24. Nothing can be produced out of nothing.

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

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

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

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#28. Let us not unlearn what we have already learned

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#29. 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.

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

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

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#32. We have complicated every simple gift of the gods.

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#33. Love comes with hunger.

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#34. The vine bears three kinds of grapes: the first of pleasure, the second of intoxication, the third of disgust.

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#35. 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.

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

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

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

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

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#40. I am looking for a human.

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

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

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#43. 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.

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

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

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#46. Why not whip the teacher when the pupil misbehaves?

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

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#48. The great thieves lead away the little thief.

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#49. 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.

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#50. The sacrifice of Diogenes to all the gods.

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#51. The sun too penetrates into privies, but is not polluted by them.

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

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#53. All things are in common among friends.

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

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

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

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

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

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#59. 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.

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

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#61. 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.

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

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#63. A friend is one soul abiding in two bodies.

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#64. Calumny is only the noise of madmen.

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

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

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

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#68. 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.

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

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

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

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

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#73. 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.

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

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#75. 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, Here is Plato's man.

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#76. 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.

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#77. 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.

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

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#79. The mob is the mother of tyrants.

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

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

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#82. I am looking for an honest man.

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

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

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

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#86. The Sun visits cesspools without being defiled.

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