Diogenes
I do not know whether there are gods, but there ought to be.Collection: Ought
To the question what wine he found pleasant to drink, he replied, "That for which other people pay."Collection: Wine
I am Diogenes the Dog. I nuzzle the kind, bark at the greedy and bite scoundrels.Collection: Dog
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!"Collection: Plato
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."Collection: Children
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?Collection: Path
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."Collection: Dog
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."Collection: Home
Calumny is only the noise of madmen.Collection: Calumny Is
The question was put to him, what hope is; and his answer was, "The dream of a waking man."Collection: Dream
The noblest people are those despising wealth, learning, pleasure and life; esteeming above them poverty, ignorance, hardship and death.Collection: Ignorance
The only way to gall and fret effectively is for yourself to be a good and honest man.Collection: Men
Nothing can be produced out of nothing.Collection: Thinking
Young men not ought to marry yet, and old men never ought to marry at all.Collection: Marriage
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.Collection: Friendship
There is a false love that will make you something you are not.Collection: False Love
When two friends part they should lock up each other's secrets and exchange keys. The truly noble mind has no resentments.Collection: Keys
Virtue cannot dwell with wealth either in a city or in a house.Collection: Cities
On being asked by someone how he could become famous, Diogenes responded: 'By worrying as little as possible about fameCollection: Worry
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.Collection: Time
No man is hurt but by himself.Collection: Hurt
If your cloak was a gift, I appreciate it; if it was a loan, I'm not through with it yet.Collection: Appreciate
The health and vigor necessary for the practice of what is good, depend equally on both mind and body.Collection: Practice
When the slave auctioneer asked in what he was proficient, he replied, "In ruling people."Collection: People
Poverty is a virtue which one can teach oneself.Collection: Poverty
Let us not unlearn what we have already learnedCollection: Unlearn
Blushing is the color of virtue.Collection: Love
Lust is a strong tower of mischief, and hath in it many defenders, as neediness, anger, paleness, discord, love, and longing.Collection: Strong
He was seized and dragged off to King Philip, and being asked who he was, replied, "A spy upon your insatiable greed."Collection: Kings
The Sun visits cesspools without being defiled.Collection: Association
The chief good is the suspension of the judgment [especially negative judgement], which tranquillity of mind follows like its shadow.Collection: Gratitude
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.Collection: Dog
To Xeniades, who had purchased Diogenes at the slave market, he said, "Come, see that you obey orders."Collection: Order
It was a favorite expression of Theophrastus that time was the most valuable thing that a man could spend.Collection: Men
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.Collection: Law
Love comes with hunger.Collection: Hunger
I threw my cup away when I saw a child drinking from his hands at the trough.Collection: Children
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.Collection: Sunshine
Ability in man is an apt good, if it be applied to good ends.Collection: Men
I am looking for a human.Collection: Humans
Wise leaders generally have wise counselors because it takes a wise person themselves to distinguish them.Collection: Leadership
Being asked where in Greece he saw good men, he replied, "Good men nowhere, but good boys at Sparta."Collection: Boys
Democritus says, "But we know nothing really; for truth lies deep down".Collection: Truth
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."Collection: Tarantulas
Asked where he came from, he said, "I am a citizen of the world."Collection: Citizens
By worrying as little as possible about fame.Collection: Worry
Boasting, like gilded armour, is very different inside from outside.Collection: Ego
Good men nowhere, but good boys at Sparta.Collection: Men
I like best the wine drunk at the cost of others.Collection: Wine