Diogenes Laertius Quotes
There is a written and an unwritten law. The one by which we regulate our constitutions in our cities is the written law; that which arises from customs is the unwritten law.
Bury me on my face," said Diogenes; and when he was asked why, he replied, "Because in a little while everything will be turned upside down.
Anaxagoras said to a man who was grieving because he was dying in a foreign land, "The descent to Hades is the same from every place.
Diogenes, when asked from what country he came, replied, "I am a citizen of the world."
Euripides says,-Who knows but that this life is really death,And whether death is not what men call life?
When asked what learning was the most necessary, he said, Not to unlearn what you have learned!
Aristippus being asked what were the most necessary things for well-born boys to learn, said, "Those things which they will put in practice when they become men.
He used to say that it was better to have one friend of great value than many friends who were good for nothing.
Antisthenes used to say that envious people were devoured by their own disposition, just as iron is by rust.
Apollodorus says, "If any one were to take away from the books of Chrysippus all the passages which he quotes from other authors, his paper would be left empty.
Thales said there was no difference between life and death. Why, then, said some one to him, do not you die? Because, said he, it does make no difference.
Heraclitus says that Pittacus, when he had got Alcæus into his power, released him, saying, "Forgiveness is better than revenge.
Plato affirmed that the soul was immortal and clothed in many bodies successively.
Arcesilaus had a peculiar habit while conversing of using the expression, "My opinion is," and "So and so will not agree to this.
Diogenes lighted a candle in the daytime, and went round saying, "I am looking for a man.
Anaximander used to assert that the primary cause of all things was the Infinite,-not defining exactly whether he meant air or water or anything else.
Xenophanes speaks thus:-And no man knows distinctly anything,And no man ever will.
Pythagoras used to say that he had received as a gift from Mercury the perpetual transmigration of his soul, so that it was constantly transmigrating and passing into all sorts of plants or animals.
The Stoics also teach that God is unity, and that he is called Mind and Fate and Jupiter, and by many other names besides.
The mountains too, at a distance, appear airy masses and smooth, but seen near at hand they are rough.
Diogenes would frequently praise those who were about to marry, and yet did not marry.
But Chrysippus, Posidonius, Zeno, and Boëthus say, that all things are produced by fate. And fate is a connected cause of existing things, or the reason according to which the world is regulated.
Anarcharsis, on learning that the sides of a ship were four fingers thick, said that "the passengers were just that distance from death.
If appearances are deceitful, then they do not deserve any confidence when they assert what appears to them to be true.
One of the sophisms of Chrysippus was, "If you have not lost a thing, you have it.
A man once asked Diogenes what was the proper time for supper, and he made answer, "If you are a rich man, whenever you please; and if you are a poor man, whenever you can.
Diogenes said once to a person who was showing him a dial, "It is a very useful thing to save a man from being too late for supper.
Bion used to say that the way to the shades below was easy; he could go there with his eyes shut.
When Thales was asked what was difficult, he said, To know one's self. And what was easy, To advise another.