Top 111 Quotes & Sayings by Diogenes

Stand a little less between me and the sun.

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

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.

Why not whip the teacher when the pupil misbehaves?

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The great thieves lead away the little thief.

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

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

It takes a wise man to discover a wise man.

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

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.

A friend is one soul abiding in two bodies.

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

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

Calumny is only the noise of madmen.

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

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

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.

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

Blushing is the color of virtue.

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

I know nothing, except the fact of my ignorance.

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

No man is hurt but by himself.

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

The mob is the mother of tyrants.

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

Modesty is the color of virtue.

I am looking for an honest man.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

One original thought is worth a thousand mindless quotings

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

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

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

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!"

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

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

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.

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

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

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."

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