Diogenes Quotes (31 Quotes)

I know nothing, except the fact of my ignorance.

Blushing is the color of virtue.

Man is the most intelligent of the animals - and the most silly.

Being asked whether it's better to marry or not, he (Socrates) replied, Whichever you do you will repent it

It was a favorite expression of Theophrastus that time was the most valuable thing that a man could spend.

The great thieves lead away the little thief.

I am not an Athenian or a Greek, but a citizen of the world.

The sun, too, shines into cesspools and is not polluted.

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.

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.

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.

The mob is the mother of tyrants.

Stand a little less between me and the sun.

I threw my cup away when I saw a child drinking from his hands at the trough.

Dogs and philosophers do the greatest good and get the fewest rewards.

A friend is one soul abiding in two bodies.

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.

What I like to drink most is wine that belongs to others.

It is the privilege of the gods to want nothing, and of godlike men to want little.

The vine bears three kinds of grapes: the first of pleasure, the second of intoxication, the third of disgust.

It takes a wise man to discover a wise man.

He used to say that other men lived to eat, but that he ate to live

We have two ears and one tongue so that we would listen more and talk less.

Wise kings generally have wise counselors; and he must be a wise man himself who is capable of distinguishing one.

The sun too penetrates into privies, but is not polluted by them.

He has the most who is most content with the least.

I do not know whether there are gods, but there ought to be.

Discourse on virtue and they pass by in droves. Whistle and dance the shimmy, and you've got an audience.

The foundation of every state is the education of its youth.

Most men are within a finger's breadth of being mad.

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.