Diogenes (quotes) - Wisdom Trove

No man is hurt but by himself.
Modesty is the color of virtue.
Behold! I’ve brought you a man.
I am looking for an honest man.
Blushing is the color of virtue.
The mob is the mother of tyrants.
Calumny is only the noise of madmen.
Nothing can be produced out of nothing.
All things are in common among friends.
Good men nowhere, but good boys at Sparta.
It takes a wise man to discover a wise man.
A friend is one soul abiding in two bodies.
It takes a wise man to discover a wise man.
Stand a little less between me and the sun.
By worrying as little as possible about fame.
The great thieves lead away the little thief.
Let us not unlearn what we have already learned
The Sun visits cesspools without being defiled.
Chilo advised, “not to speak evil of the dead.”
I know nothing, except the fact of my ignorance.
Poverty is a virtue which one can teach oneself.
The art of being a slave is to rule one’s master.
Poverty is a virtue which one can teach oneself.
I like best the wine drunk at the cost of others.
We have complicated every simple gift of the gods.
He has the most who is most content with the least.
Why not whip the teacher when the pupil misbehaves?
Most men are within a finger’s breadth of being mad.
He has the most who is most content with the least.
Cuanto más conozco a la gente, más quiero a mi perro.
The sun, too, shines into cesspools and is not polluted.
What I like to drink most is wine that belongs to others.
The sun, too, shines into cesspools and is not polluted.
One original thought is worth a thousand mindless quotings
What I like to drink most is wine that belongs to others.
The most beautiful thing in the world is freedom of speech.
I am not an Athenian or a Greek, but a citizen of the world.
The foundation of every state is the education of its youth.
I do not know whether there are gods, but there ought to be.
In a rich man’s house there is no place to spit but his face.
The foundation of every state is the education of its youth.
I am not an Athenian or a Greek, but a citizen of the world.
Ability in man is an apt good, if it be applied to good ends.
In a rich man’s house there is no place to spit but his face.
There is a false love that will make you something you are not.
Virtue cannot dwell with wealth either in a city or in a house.
Man is the most intelligent of the animals – and the most silly.
Of what use is a philosopher who doesn’t hurt anybody’s feelings?
The sun too penetrates into privies, but is not polluted by them.
Man is the most intelligent of the animals – and the most silly.
I pissed on the man who called me a dog. Why was he so surprised?
There is only a finger’s difference between a wise man and a fool.
Boasting, like gilded armour, is very different inside from outside.
Even if I am but a pretender to wisdom, that in itself is philosophy.
Dogs and philosophers do the greatest good and get the fewest rewards.
Democritus says, “But we know nothing really; for truth lies deep down”.
It is not that I am mad, it is only that my head is different from yours.
Young men not ought to marry yet, and old men never ought to marry at all.
We have two ears and one tongue so that we would listen more and talk less.
We have two ears and one tongue so that we would listen more and talk less.
I threw my cup away when I saw a child drinking from his hands at the trough.
If I lack awareness, then why should I care what happens to me when I am dead?
I threw my cup away when I saw a child drinking from his hands at the trough.
It is the privilege of the gods to want nothing, and of godlike men to want little.
If only it was as easy to banish hunger by rubbing the belly as it is to masturbate.
We are more curious about the meaning of dreams than about things we see when awake.
It is the privilege of the gods to want nothing, and of godlike men to want little.
The only way to gall and fret effectively is for yourself to be a good and honest man.
He lit a lamp in broad daylight and said, as he went about, “I am looking for a human.”
Aristotle dines when it seems good to King Philip, but Diogenes when he himself pleases.
We come into the world alone and we die alone. Why, in life, should we be any less alone?
Other dogs bite only their enemies, whereas I bite also my friends in order to save them.
If your cloak was a gift, I appreciate it; if it was a loan, I’m not through with it yet.
The Home Book of Quotations, Classical and Modern. Book by Burton Egbert Stevenson, 1937.
When the slave auctioneer asked in what he was proficient, he replied, “In ruling people.”
The question was put to him, what hope is; and his answer was, “The dream of a waking man.”
Hoyt’s New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations by Jehiel Keeler Hoyt, Book VI, Section 63, 1922.
Protagoras asserted that there are two sides to every question, exactly opposite to each other.
Hoyt’s New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations by Jehiel Keeler Hoyt (according to Stobæus), 1922.
To the question what wine he found pleasant to drink, he replied, “That for which other people pay.”
People who talk well but do nothing are like musical intruments; the sound is all they have to offer.
Being asked where in Greece he saw good men, he replied, “Good men nowhere, but good boys at Sparta.”
The health and vigor necessary for the practice of what is good, depend equally on both mind and body.
To Xeniades, who had purchased Diogenes at the slave market, he said, “Come, see that you obey orders.”
Discourse on virtue and they pass by in droves. Whistle and dance the shimmy, and you’ve got an audience.
To become self-educated you should condemn yourself for all those things that you would criticize others.
Diogenes replied, “But if you would only learn to live on lentils, you wouldn’t have to flatter Dionysus.
It was a favorite expression of Theophrastus that time was the most valuable thing that a man could spend.
Wise leaders generally have wise counselors because it takes a wise person themselves to distinguish them.
He once begged alms of a statue, and, when asked why he did so, replied, “To get practice in being refused.”
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.
The vine bears three kinds of grapes: the first of pleasure, the second of intoxication, the third of disgust.
Wise kings generally have wise counselors; and he must be a wise man himself who is capable of distinguishing one.
Wise kings generally have wise counselors; and he must be a wise man himself who is capable of distinguishing one.
If I gained one thing from philosophy is that at the very least, I am well prepared to confront any change in fortune.
He was seized and dragged off to King Philip, and being asked who he was, replied, “A spy upon your insatiable greed.”
On being asked by someone how he could become famous, Diogenes responded: ‘By worrying as little as possible about fame
Aristotle was once asked what those who tell lies gain by it. Said he – That when they speak truth they are not believed.
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.
When two friends part they should lock up each other’s secrets and exchange keys. The truly noble mind has no resentments.
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.
Lust is a strong tower of mischief, and hath in it many defenders, as neediness, anger, paleness, discord, love, and longing.
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.
When some one boasted that at the Pythian games he had vanquished men, Diogenes replied, “Nay, I defeat men, you defeat slaves.”
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 some one reminded him that the people of Sinope had sentenced him to exile, he said, “And I sentenced them to stay at home.”
The chief good is the suspension of the judgment [especially negative judgement], which tranquillity of mind follows like its shadow.
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.
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.
The noblest people are those despising wealth, learning, pleasure and life; esteeming above them poverty, ignorance, hardship and death.
[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.
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.
Self-taught poverty is a help toward philosophy, for the things which philosophy attempts to teach by reasoning, poverty forces us to practice.
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?
When Alexander the Great addressed him with greetings, and asked if he wanted anything, Diogenes replied “Yes, stand a little out of my sunshine.”
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.
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.
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.”
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.”
You are a simpleton, Hegesias; you do not choose painted figs, but real ones; and yet you pass over the true training and would apply yourself to written rules
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.
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.
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.
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.”
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!”
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.”
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.
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?
A philosopher named Aristippus, who had quite willingly sucked up to Dionysus and won himself a spot at his court, saw Diogenes cooking lentils for a meal. “If you would only learn to compliment Dionysus, you wouldn’t have to live on lentils.”
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.
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.
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.
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.
And at last, becoming a complete misanthrope, he used to live, spending his time in walking about the mountains; feeding on grasses and plants, and in consequence of these habits, he was attacked by the dropsy, and so then he returned to the city, and asked the physicians, in a riddle, whether they were able to produce a drought after wet weather. And as they did not understand him, he shut himself up in a stable for oxen, and covered himself with cow-dung, hoping to cause the wet to evaporate from him, by the warmth that this produced. And as he did himself no go good in this way, he died, having lived seventy years;

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