One day when he was censured for keeping company with evil men, the reply he made was, "Well, physicians are in attendance on their patients without getting the fever themselves."
"It is strange," said he, "that we weed out the wheat from the chaff and the unfit in war, but do not excuse evil men from the service of the state."
When he was asked what advantage had accrued to him from philosophy, his answer was, "The ability to hold conversation with myself."
Some one having called upon him over the wine for a song, he replied, "Then you must accompany me on the pipe."
When Diogenes begged a coat of him, he bade him fold his cloak around him double.
Being asked what learning is the most necessary, he replied, "How to get rid of having anything to unlearn."
And he advised that when men are slandered, they should endure it more courageously than if they were pelted with stones.
—Diogenes Laërtius, 6.6-7
No comments:
Post a Comment