Diogenes of Sinope
45 quotes
Biography
Diogenes the Cynic, also known as Diogenes of Sinope, was an ancient Greek philosopher during the period of Classical Greece, and one of the founders of Cynicism.
"It is not that I am mad, it is only that my head is different from yours."
"Of what use is a philosopher who doesn't hurt anybody's feelings?"
"Poverty is a virtue which one can teach oneself."
"Aristotle dines when it seems good to King Philip, but Diogenes when he himself pleases."
"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."
"To Xeniades, who had purchased Diogenes at the slave market, he said, "Come, see that you obey orders.""
"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.""
"He used to reason as follows: 'Everything belongs to the gods; the wise are friends of the gods; friends hold all things in common; ergo, everything belongs to the wise.'"
"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!""
"To one who asked what was the proper time for lunch, he said, "If a rich man, when you will; if a poor man, when you can.""
"He was seized and dragged off to King Philip, and being asked who he was, replied, "A spy upon your insatiable greed.""
"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.""
"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.""
"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.""
"He once begged alms of a statue, and, when asked why he did so, replied, "To get practice in being refused.""
"To the question what wine he found pleasant to drink, he replied, "That for which other people pay.""
"When asked why people give to beggars but not to philosophers, he replied, 'Because they expect they may become lame and blind, but never that they will become philosophers.'"
"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.""
"Asked where he came from, he said, "I am a citizen of the world.""
"He was going into a theatre, meeting face to face those who were coming out, and being asked why, "This," he said, "is what I practise doing all my life.""
"When the slave auctioneer asked in what he was proficient, he replied, "In ruling people.""
"When people laughed at him because he walked backward beneath the portico, he said to them: "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?""
"οἱ μὲν ἄλλοι κύνες τοὺς ἐχθροὺς δάκνουσιν, ἐγὼ δὲ τοὺς φίλους, ἵνα σώσω."
"Boasting, like gilded armour, is very different inside from outside."
"The noblest people are those despising wealth, learning, pleasure and life; esteeming above them poverty, ignorance, hardship and death."