Diogenes Laertius Quotes

• When Thales was asked what was difficult, he said, To know one's self. And what was easy, To advise another.

  Diogenes Laertius

  Self, Easy, Said

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• Diogenes lighted a candle in the daytime, and went round saying, "I am looking for a man.

  Diogenes Laertius

  Men, Looking For A Man, Daytime

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• Socrates said, "Those who want fewest things are nearest to the gods.

  Diogenes Laertius

  Want, Said

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• Time is the image of eternity.

  Diogenes Laertius

  Time, Eternity

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• Ignorance plays the chief part among men, and the multitude of words.

  Diogenes Laertius

  Ignorance, Men, Play

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• Fortune is unstable, while our will is free.

  Diogenes Laertius

  Fortune, Unstable

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• That man does not possess his estate, but his estate possesses him.

  Diogenes Laertius

  Men, Doe, Estates

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• He used to say that it was better to have one friend of great value than many friends who were good for nothing.

  Diogenes Laertius

  Greatest Love, Used, Great Value

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• Courage, my boy! that is the complexion of virtue.

  Diogenes Laertius

  Boys, Virtue, Blushing

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• Bury me on my face," said Diogenes; and when he was asked why, he replied, "Because in a little while everything will be turned upside down.

  Diogenes Laertius

  Lying, Littles, Faces

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• Antisthenes used to say that envious people were devoured by their own disposition, just as iron is by rust.

  Diogenes Laertius

  Iron, People, Rust

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• The sun too penetrates into privies, but is not polluted by them.

  Diogenes Laertius

  Sun, Penetrate

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• A man once asked Diogenes what was the proper time for supper, and he made answer, "If you are a rich man, whenever you please; and if you are a poor man, whenever you can.

  Diogenes Laertius

  Men, Answers, Rich

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• Aristippus said that a wise man's country was the world.

  Diogenes Laertius

  Wise, Country, Men

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• Anaxagoras said to a man who was grieving because he was dying in a foreign land, "The descent to Hades is the same from every place.

  Diogenes Laertius

  Men, Grieving, Land

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• There is a written and an unwritten law. The one by which we regulate our constitutions in our cities is the written law; that which arises from customs is the unwritten law.

  Diogenes Laertius

  Law, Cities, Constitution

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• Sacrifice to the Graces.

  Diogenes Laertius

  Sacrifice, Grace

  Diogenes Laertius (2015). “Delphi Complete Works of Diogenes Laertius (Illustrated)”, p.145, Delphi Classics

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• Diogenes, when asked from what country he came, replied, "I am a citizen of the world."

  Diogenes Laertius

  Country, Citizens, World

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• As some say, Solon was the author of the apophthegm, "Nothing in excess.

  Diogenes Laertius

  Excess

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• Whichever you do, you will repent it.

  Diogenes Laertius

  Repent

  Diogenes Laertius (2015). “Delphi Complete Works of Diogenes Laertius (Illustrated)”, p.70, Delphi Classics

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• Apollodorus says, "If any one were to take away from the books of Chrysippus all the passages which he quotes from other authors, his paper would be left empty.

  Diogenes Laertius

  Book, Would Be, Paper

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• Bias used to say that men ought to calculate life both as if they were fated to live a long and a short time, and that they ought to love one another as if at a future time they would come to hate one another; for that most men were bad.

  Diogenes Laertius

  Hate, Men, Long

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• Bion used to say that the way to the shades below was easy; he could go there with his eyes shut.

  Diogenes Laertius

  Eye, Shade, Way

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• Heraclitus says that Pittacus, when he had got Alcæus into his power, released him, saying, "Forgiveness is better than revenge.

  Diogenes Laertius

  Revenge

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• One of the sophisms of Chrysippus was, "If you have not lost a thing, you have it.

  Diogenes Laertius

  Lost, Ifs

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