Diogenes

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

There is only a fingers difference between a wise man and a fool.

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.

Being asked where in Greece he saw good men, he replied, "Good men nowhere, but good boys at Sparta."

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.

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

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.

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

The mob is the mother of tyrants.

The great thieves lead away the little thief.

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

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

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.

A friend is one soul abiding in two bodies.

Blushing is the color of virtue.

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

It takes a wise man to discover a wise man.

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

I know nothing, except the fact of my ignorance.

He has the most who is content with the least.