Diogenes, also known as Diogenes the Cynic was born around the year 404 BCE in Sinope, Turkey. Diogenes was a Greek philosopher and one of the founders of Cynic philosophy that stressed stoic self-sufficiency and the rejection of luxury.
Diogenes was a controversial figure, he was banished from Sinope when he took to debasement of currency. He used his simple lifestyle and behaviour to criticize the social values and institutions of what he saw as a corrupt and confused society.
Diogenes became notorious for his philosophical stunts, such as carrying a lamp during the day, claiming to be looking for an honest man. Diogenes died 323 BCE in Corinth, Greece.
In this article, we have compiled an array of famous Diogenes quotes and sayings.
40 Diogenes Quotes About Life, Money & Philosophy
“Of what use is a philosopher who doesn’t hurt anybody’s feelings?” ― Diogenes of Sinope Quote
“The foundation of every state is the education of its youth.” ― Diogenes of Sinope Quote
“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.”― Diogenes of Sinope Quote
“Dogs and philosophers do the greatest good and get the fewest rewards.” ― Diogenes of Sinope Quote
“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.” ― Diogenes of Sinope Quote
“The only way to gall and fret effectively is for yourself to be a good and honest man.” ― Diogenes of Sinope Quote
“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.” ― Diogenes of Sinope Quote
“Self-taught poverty is a help toward philosophy, for the things which philosophy attempts to teach by reasoning, poverty forces us to practice.” ― Diogenes of Sinope Quote
“When two friends part they should lock up each other’s secrets and exchange keys. The truly noble mind has no resentments.”― Diogenes of Sinope Quote
“Young men not ought to marry yet, and old men never ought to marry at all.” ― Diogenes of Sinope Quote
“We have two ears and one tongue so that we would listen more and talk less.” ― Diogenes of Sinope Quote
“People who talk well but do nothing are like musical instruments; the sound is all they have to offer.”― Diogenes of Sinope Quote
“The noblest people are those despising wealth, learning, pleasure, and life; esteeming above them poverty, ignorance, hardship, and death.” ― Diogenes of Sinope Quote
“Education gives sobriety to the young, comfort to the old, riches to the poor and is an ornament to the rich.” ― Diogenes of Sinope Quote
“He has the most who is most content with the least.”― Diogenes of Sinope Quote
“Man is the most intelligent of the animals – and the most silly.” ― Diogenes of Sinope Quote
“Why not whip the teacher when the pupil misbehaves?” ― Diogenes of Sinope Quote
“Most men are within a finger’s breadth of being mad.”― Diogenes of Sinope Quote
“Wise leaders generally have wise counselors because it takes a wise person themselves to distinguish them.”― Diogenes of Sinope Quote
“If I gained one thing from philosophy is that at the very least, I am well prepared to confront any change in fortune.” ― Diogenes of Sinope Quote
“And at last, becoming a complete misanthrope, he used to live, spending his time in walking about the mountains; feeding on grasses and plants, and in consequence of these habits, he was attacked by the dropsy, and so then he returned to the city, and asked the physicians, in a riddle, whether they were able to produce a drought after wet weather. And as they did not understand him, he shut himself up in a stable for oxen, and covered himself with cow-dung, hoping to cause the wet to evaporate from him, by the warmth that this produced. And as he did himself no go good in this way, he died, having lived seventy years;” ― Diogenes of Sinope Quote
“When people laughed at him because he walked backward beneath the portico, he said to them: “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?” ― Diogenes of Sinope Quote
“Poverty is a virtue which one can teach oneself.” ― Diogenes of Sinope Quote
“It is not that I am mad, it is only that my head is different from yours.”― Diogenes of Sinope Quote
“It is the privilege of the gods to want nothing, and of godlike men to want little.” ― Diogenes of Sinope Quote
“Blushing is the color of virtue.” ― Diogenes of Sinope Quote
“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.” ― Diogenes of Sinope Quote
“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.”― Diogenes of Sinope Quote
“No man is hurt but by himself” ― Diogenes of Sinope Quote
“Behold! I’ve brought you a man.” ― Diogenes of Sinope Quote
“Even if I am but a pretender to wisdom, that in itself is philosophy.”― Diogenes of Sinope Quote
“Other dogs bite only their enemies, whereas I bite also my friends in order to save them.” ― Diogenes of Sinope Quote
“A friend is one soul abiding in two bodies.” ― Diogenes of Sinope Quote
“You are a simpleton, Hegesias; you do not choose painted figs, but real ones; and yet you pass over the true training and would apply yourself to written rules” ― Diogenes of Sinope Quote
“What I like to drink most is wine that belongs to others.” ― Diogenes of Sinope Quote
“The art of being a slave is to rule one’s master.” ― Diogenes of Sinope Quote
“In a rich man’s house there is no place to spit but his face.”― Diogenes of Sinope Quote
“It takes a wise man to discover a wise man.” ― Diogenes of Sinope Quote
“I am a citizen of the world.” ― Diogenes of Sinope Quote
“Alexander the Great found the philosopher looking attentively at a pile of human bones. Diogenes explained, “I am searching for the bones of your father but cannot distinguish them from those of a slave.” ― Diogenes of Sinope Quote