Everything but the Kitchen Cynic

Diogenes in His Barrel

One day Diogenes lit a lamp and went around saying he was seeking a person, a story that later became a search for an honest person.

Diogenes held that education is a controlling grace to the young, consolation to the old, wealth to the poor, and an ornament to the rich. Diogenes believed that the most beautiful thing in the world is freedom of speech.

Alexander said that if he had not been Alexander, he would have liked to have been Diogenes.

When Diogenes was sunning himself in the Craneum, Alexander came and stood over him saying that he could have anything he wished. Diogenes simply asked Alexander to move out of his sunlight.

When Alexander asked him if he was not afraid of him, Diogenes asked if Alexander was a good thing or a bad thing. Alexander said he was a good thing, and Diogenes asked, “who is afraid of the good?”

Alexander said that he was Alexander the great king, and he said that he was Diogenes the hound. Asked why he was called that, Diogenes replied that he fawned on those who gave him anything, yelped at those who refused, and put his teeth into rascals.

When someone complained that he was not adapted to the study of philosophy, Diogenes asked why he lived, if he did not care to live well.