Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
It is not that I am mad, it is only that my head is different from yours.
We have two ears and one tongue so that we would listen more and talk less.
I threw my cup away when I saw a child drinking from his hands at the trough.
If I lack awareness, then why should I care what happens to me when I am dead?
I am Diogenes the Dog. I nuzzle the kind, bark at the greedy and bite scoundrels.
It is the privilege of the gods to want nothing, and of godlike men to want little.
If only it was as easy to banish hunger by rubbing the belly as it is to masturbate.
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.
He lit a lamp in broad daylight and said, as he went about, "I am looking for a human."
Aristotle dines when it seems good to King Philip, but Diogenes when he himself pleases.
We come into the world alone and we die alone. Why, in life, should we be any less alone?
Other dogs bite only their enemies, whereas I bite also my friends in order to save them.
If your cloak was a gift, I appreciate it; if it was a loan, I'm not through with it yet.
When the slave auctioneer asked in what he was proficient, he replied, "In ruling people."
The question was put to him, what hope is; and his answer was, "The dream of a waking man."
Protagoras asserted that there are two sides to every question, exactly opposite to each other.
To the question what wine he found pleasant to drink, he replied, "That for which other people pay."
People who talk well but do nothing are like musical intruments; the sound is all they have to offer.
Being asked where in Greece he saw good men, he replied, "Good men nowhere, but good boys at Sparta."
The health and vigor necessary for the practice of what is good, depend equally on both mind and body.
To Xeniades, who had purchased Diogenes at the slave market, he said, "Come, see that you obey orders."
To become self-educated you should condemn yourself for all those things that you would criticize others.
Discourse on virtue and they pass by in droves. Whistle and dance the shimmy, and you've got an audience.
It was a favorite expression of Theophrastus that time was the most valuable thing that a man could spend.
Wise leaders generally have wise counselors because it takes a wise person themselves to distinguish them.
He once begged alms of a statue, and, when asked why he did so, replied, "To get practice in being refused."
Education gives sobriety to the young, comfort to the old, riches to the poor and is an ornament to the rich.
You will become a teacher of yourself when for the same things that you blame others, you also blame yourself.
The vine bears three kinds of grapes: the first of pleasure, the second of intoxication, the third of disgust.
Wise kings generally have wise counselors; and he must be a wise man himself who is capable of distinguishing one.
He was seized and dragged off to King Philip, and being asked who he was, replied, "A spy upon your insatiable greed."
On being asked by someone how he could become famous, Diogenes responded: 'By worrying as little as possible about fame
Aristotle was once asked what those who tell lies gain by it. Said he - That when they speak truth they are not believed.
When two friends part they should lock up each other's secrets and exchange keys. The truly noble mind has no resentments.
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.
Lust is a strong tower of mischief, and hath in it many defenders, as neediness, anger, paleness, discord, love, and longing.
As houses well stored with provisions are likely to be full of mice, so the bodies of those that eat much are full of diseases.
When some one boasted that at the Pythian games he had vanquished men, Diogenes replied, "Nay, I defeat men, you defeat slaves."
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.
If you are to be kept right, you must possess either good friends or red-hot enemies. The one will warn you, the other will expose you.
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.
The noblest people are those despising wealth, learning, pleasure and life; esteeming above them poverty, ignorance, hardship and death.
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.
Self-taught poverty is a help toward philosophy, for the things which philosophy attempts to teach by reasoning, poverty forces us to practice.
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?
When Alexander the Great addressed him with greetings, and asked if he wanted anything, Diogenes replied "Yes, stand a little out of my sunshine."
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.
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."