Diogenes Quotes

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

No man is hurt but by himself.

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

A friend is one soul abiding in two bodies.

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."

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

Let us not unlearn what we have already learned

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

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

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

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

Poverty is a virtue which one can teach oneself.

Calumny is only the noise of madmen.

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.

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."

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

Nothing can be produced out of nothing.

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

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

The great thieves lead away the little thief.

Good men nowhere, but good boys at Sparta.

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

As some say, Solon was the author of the apophthegm, "Nothing in excess.

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."

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.

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.

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

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.

Love comes with hunger.

By worrying as little as possible about fame.

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

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