Diogenes of Sinope Quotes

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."

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.'

To the question what wine he found pleasant to drink, he replied, "That for which other people pay."

He once begged alms of a statue, and, when asked why he did so, replied, "To get practice in being refused."

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."

When scolded for masturbating in public, he said "I wish it were as easy to banish hunger by rubbing my belly."

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."

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."

He was seized and dragged off to King Philip, and being asked who he was, replied, "A spy upon your insatiable greed."

He lit a lamp in broad daylight and said, as he went about, "I am looking for a human."

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."

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!"

He used to reason as follows: 'Everything belongs to the gods; the wise are friends of the gods; friends hold all things in common; ergo, everything belongs to the wise.'

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."

To Xeniades, who had purchased Diogenes at the slave market, he said, "Come, see that you obey orders."