On being asked by a tyrant what bronze is best for a statue, Diogenes replied, "That of which Harmodius and Aristogeiton were moulded."
Asked how Dionysius treated his friends, "Like purses," he replied; "so long as they are full, he hangs them up, and, when they are empty, he throws them away."
Some one lately wed had set up on his door the notice:
The son of Zeus, victorious Heracles,
Dwells here; let nothing evil enter in.
To which Diogenes added, "After war, alliance."
The love of money he declared to be the mother-city of all evils.
Seeing a spendthrift eating olives in a tavern, he said, "If you had breakfasted in this fashion, you would not so be dining."
—Diogenes Laërtius, 6.50
IMAGE: Harmodius and Aristogeiton
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