Top 111 Quotes & Sayings by Diogenes - Page 2

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."

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

Let us not unlearn what we have already learned

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

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

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

I am looking for a human.

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."

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."

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?

The Sun visits cesspools without being defiled.

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

We have complicated every simple gift of the gods.

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

Love comes with hunger.

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

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

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

Nothing can be produced out of nothing.

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

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

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

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

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

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."

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

Poverty is a virtue which one can teach oneself.

Good men nowhere, but good boys at Sparta.

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

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

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

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

All things are in common among friends.

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

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

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

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.

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

By worrying as little as possible about fame.

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

The sacrifice of Diogenes to all the gods.