Diogenes Quotes

I pissed on the man who called me a dog. Why was he so surprised?

In a rich man's house there is no place to spit but his face.

If only it was as easy to banish hunger by rubbing the belly as it is to masturbate.

People who talk well but do nothing are like musical intruments; the sound is all they have to offer.

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

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

Of what use is a philosopher who doesn't hurt anybody's feelings?

One original thought is worth a thousand mindless quotings

We come into the world alone and we die alone. Why, in life, should we be any less alone?

It is not that I am mad, it is only that my head is different from yours.

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.

Fools! You think of "god" as a sentient being. God is the word used to represent a force. This force created nothing, it just helps things along. It does not answer prayers, although it may make you think of a way to solve a problem. It has the power to influence you, but not decide for you.

You will become a teacher of yourself when for the same things that you blame others, you also blame yourself.

The most beautiful thing in the world is freedom of speech.

Why not whip the teacher when the pupil misbehaves?

We are more curious about the meaning of dreams than about things we see when awake.

There is only a finger's difference between a wise man and a fool.

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

Self-taught poverty is a help toward philosophy, for the things which philosophy attempts to teach by reasoning, poverty forces us to practice.

Other dogs bite only their enemies, whereas I bite also my friends in order to save them.

It takes a wise man to discover a wise man.

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."

We have complicated every simple gift of the gods.

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

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