Diogenes of Sinope quotes - page 2

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!" (Diogenes of Sinope)
When asked why people give to beggars but not to philosophers, he replied, 'Because they expect they may become lame and blind, but never that they will become philosophers.' View quote
Diogenes of Sinope
Other dogs bite only their enemies, whereas I bite also my friends in order to save them. View quote
Diogenes of Sinope
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. View quote
Diogenes of Sinope
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. View quote
Diogenes of Sinope
We have two ears and one tongue so that we would listen more and talk less. View quote
Diogenes of Sinope
The foundation of every state is the education of its youth. View quote
Diogenes of Sinope
Most men are within a finger's breadth of being mad. View quote
Diogenes of Sinope
On reaching Athens he fell in with Antisthenes. Being repulsed by him, because he never welcomed pupils, by sheer persistence Diogenes wore him out. Once when he stretched out his staff against him, the pupil offered his head with the words, "Strike, for you will find no wood hard enough to keep me away from you, so long as I think you've something to say." View quote
Diogenes of Sinope
Diogenes the cynic, seeing one of the so-called freedmen pluming himself, while many heartily congratulated him, marveled at the absence of reason and discernment. "A man might as well,” he said, "proclaim that one of his servants became a grammarian, a geometrician, or musician, when he has no idea whatever of the art.” For as the proclamation cannot make them men of knowledge, so neither can it make them free. View quote
Diogenes of Sinope
He was going into a theatre, meeting face to face those who were coming out, and being asked why, "This," he said, "is what I practise doing all my life." (Diogenes of Sinope)
When scolded for masturbating in public, he said "I wish it were as easy to banish hunger by rubbing my belly." View quote
Diogenes of Sinope
Thieves and fighters do not come from eaters of barley-bread; but informers and tyrants come from meat-eaters. View quote
Diogenes of Sinope
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?" View quote
Diogenes of Sinope
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." View quote
Diogenes of Sinope
The mob is the mother of tyrants. View quote
Diogenes of Sinope
A friend is one soul abiding in two bodies. View quote
Diogenes of Sinope
Man is the most intelligent of the animals - and the most silly. View quote
Diogenes of Sinope
Wise kings generally have wise counselors; and he must be a wise man himself who is capable of distinguishing one. View quote
Diogenes of Sinope
Blushing is the color of virtue. View quote
Diogenes of Sinope
I am looking for a human. (Diogenes of Sinope)
The great thieves lead away the little thief. View quote
Diogenes of Sinope
It was a favorite expression of Theophrastus that time was the most valuable thing that a man could spend. View quote
Diogenes of Sinope
I am not an Athenian or a Greek, but a citizen of the world. View quote
Diogenes of Sinope
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. View quote
Diogenes of Sinope