Diogenes The Cynic Quotes

“When he saw the child of some prostitute throw stones at a crowd, Diogenes shouted to him, "Take care that you don't hit your father!”
― Luis E. Navia, Diogenes The Cynic: The War Against The World

“The worthiest among human beings, said Diogenes according to Stobaeus (3.86.19), are those who despise learning and prefer a state of ignorance-ignorance understood not in the sense of not knowing anything, but in the sense of dispensing with unnecessary learning and acquiring only the knowledge that is sufficient for a good and simple life. This is what Diogenes identified as the only meaning and purpose of philosophy.”
― Luis E. Navia, Diogenes The Cynic: The War Against The World

“In mythology and religion, no less than in other spheres of life there is much in the way of self-serving interests, deceitfulness, mindlessness, and vices. This has to be so because it is a human creation and everything human is tainted and corrupt.”
― Luis E. Navia, Diogenes The Cynic: The War Against The World

“Those who find the world something worthy of praise or who congratulate themselves for having been born in it are either intellectually blind or morally perverse.”
― Luis E. Navia, Diogenes The Cynic: The War Against The World

“From Hunayn ibn-Ishak (Diogenes,8), we learn about his view of women and education: when he saw a man teaching a girl how to read and write, he advised him not to make a bad thing even worse.”
― Luis E. Navia, Diogenes The Cynic: The War Against The World

“In their vain quest for happiness, they only succeed in rendering it more inaccessible not only for themselves, but for everybody else.”
― Luis E. Navia, Diogenes The Cynic: The War Against The World

“the world on all sides is bankrupt and that life is a business that does not cover the costs.”
― Luis E. Navia, Diogenes The Cynic: The War Against The World

“Schopenhauer once said: the life of one dog may be worth more than the lives of many human beings.”
― Luis E. Navia, Diogenes The Cynic: The War Against The World

“Conquering cities may not be held against kings, but kicking like an ass should be.”
― Luis E. Navia, Diogenes The Cynic: The War Against The World

“happiness manifests itself both personally and collectively as an elusive and deceiving ghost that refuses to let anyone catch it.”
― Luis E. Navia, Diogenes The Cynic: The War Against The World

“In mythology and religion, no less than in other spheres of life there is much in the way of self-serving interests, deceitfulness, mindlessness, and vices.”
― Luis E. Navia, Diogenes The Cynic: The War Against The World

“Schopenhauer noted, are unmistakable signs that one has made peace with the world and that one is willing to perpetuate the social order.71”
― Luis E. Navia, Diogenes The Cynic: The War Against The World