Home > Author > Diogenes of Sinope
1 " It is not that I am mad, it is only that my head is different from yours. "
― Diogenes of Sinope
2 " Dogs and philosophers do the greatest good and get the fewest rewards. "
3 " Poverty is a virtue which one can teach oneself. "
4 " Of what use is a philosopher who doesn't hurt anybody's feelings? "
5 " It takes a wise man to discover a wise man. "
6 " The foundation of every state is the education of its youth. "
7 " Blushing is the color of virtue. "
8 " The only way to gall and fret effectively is for yourself to be a good and honest man. "
9 " 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. "
10 " What I like to drink most is wine that belongs to others. "
11 " The art of being a slave is to rule one's master. "
12 " 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."Diogenes replied, "But if you would only learn to live on lentils, you wouldn't have to flatter Dionysus. "
13 " Alexander the Great found the philosopher looking attentively at a pile of human bones. Diogenes explained, "I am searching for the bones of your father but cannot distinguish them from those of a slave. "
14 " In a rich man's house there is no place to spit but his face. "
15 " 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. "
16 " 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. "
17 " 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. "
18 " 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. "
19 " No man is hurt but by himself "
20 " 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? "
