Wisdom from the Early Cynics, Diogenes 30

When someone reproached Diogenes with his exile, his reply was, "Nay, it was through that, you miserable fellow, that I came to be a philosopher." 

Again, when someone reminded him that the people of Sinope had sentenced him to exile, "And I them," said he, "to home-staying." 

Once he saw an Olympic victor tending sheep and thus accosted him: "Too quickly, my good friend, have you left Olympia for Nemea." 

Being asked why athletes are so stupid, his answer was, "Because they are built up of pork and beef." 

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

In asking alms—as he did at first by reason of his poverty—he used this form: "If you have already given to anyone else, give to me also; if not, begin with me." 

—Diogenes Laërtius, 6.49 

IMAGE: Jean-Bernard Restout, Diogenes Asking for Alms (1767)