Quotes By Diogenes

The great thieves lead away the little thief.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

A friend is one soul abiding in two bodies.

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

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

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

Blushing is the color of virtue.

I know nothing except the fact of my ignorance.

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.

It takes a wise man to discover a wise man.

The mob is the mother of tyrants.

Stand a little less between me and the sun.

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

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