Wisdom from the Early Cynics, Diogenes 31

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