Diogenes Quotes
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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.
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There is only a finger's difference between a wise man and a fool.
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I am Diogenes the Dog. I nuzzle the kind, bark at the greedy and bite scoundrels.
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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.
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He lit a lamp in broad daylight and said, as he went about, "I am looking for a human."
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Other dogs bite only their enemies, whereas I bite also my friends in order to save them.
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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?
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We have two ears and one tongue so that we would listen more and talk less.
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Being asked where in Greece he saw good men, he replied, "Good men nowhere, but good boys at Sparta."
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When Alexander the Great addressed him with greetings, and asked if he wanted anything, Diogenes replied 'Yes, stand a little out of my sunshine.'
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Young men not ought to marry yet, and old men never ought to marry at all.
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No man is hurt but by himself. ...Literally by how he interprets what happens to him. If he focusses on how it could have been better, he will be hurt. If he focusses on how it could have been worse, he will be happy. The same is true for women too.
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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.
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Aristotle was once asked what those who tell lies gain by it. Said he - That when they speak truth they are not believed.
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Nothing can be produced out of nothing.
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It is the privilege of the gods to want nothing, and of godlike men to want little.
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The foundation of every state is the education of its youth.
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The noblest people are those despising wealth, learning, pleasure and life; esteeming above them poverty, ignorance, hardship and death.
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The only way to gall and fret effectively is for yourself to be a good and honest man.
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Man is the most intelligent of the animals - and the most silly.
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Virtue cannot dwell with wealth either in a city or in a house.
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One original thought is worth a thousand mindless quotings.
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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."
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Self-taught poverty is a help toward philosophy, for the things which philosophy attempts to teach by reasoning, poverty forces us to practice.