Of what use is a philosopher who doesn't hurt anybody's feelings?
DiogenesRead
Calumny is only the noise of madmen.
Interpretation
Calumny reflects the irrational and unbalanced behavior of those who speak falsely.
Diogenes' quote suggests that slander and false accusations are not born out of truth or reason, but rather stem from the chaotic and uncontrolled minds of angry individuals. It highlights the futility of engaging with baseless criticisms, indicating that such noise is simply a product of madness rather than sound judgment.
In practice
In a discussion about handling criticism, one might say, 'Remember, calumny is only the noise of madmen.'
Of what use is a philosopher who doesn't hurt anybody's feelings?
The art of being a slave is to rule one's master.
As a matter of self-preservation, a man needs good friends or ardent enemies, for the former instruct him and the latter take him to task.
I am not an Athenian or a Greek, but a citizen of the world.
We come into the world alone and we die alone. Why, in life, should we be any less alone?
All things are in common among friends.
Lots of people think, well, we're humans; we're the most intelligent and accomplished species; we're in charge. Bacteria may have a different outlook: more bacteria live and work in one linear centimeter of your lower colon than all the humans who have ever lived. That's what's going on in your digestive tract right now. Are we in charge, or are we simply hosts for bacteria? It all depends on your outlook.
The bonds between ourselves and another person exists only in our minds. Memory as it grows fainter loosens them, and notwithstanding the illusion by which we want to be duped and which, out of love, friendship, politeness, deference, duty, we dupe other people, we exist alone. Man is the creature who cannot escape from himself, who knows other people only in himself, and when he asserts the contrary, he is lying.
We have not reached ethical perfection in hunting. One never achieves perfection in anything, and perhaps it exists precisely so that one can never achieve it. Its purpose is to orient our conduct and to allow us to measure the progress accomplished. In this sense, the advancement achieved in the ethics of hunting is undeniable.
Samsara - our conditioned existence in the perpetual cycle of habitual tendencies and nirvana - genuine freedom from such an existence- are nothing but different manifestations of a basic continuum. So this continuity of consciousness us always present. This is the meaning of tantra.
The expression to write something down suggests a descent of thought to the fingers whose movements immediately falsify it.
All humans are entrepreneurs not because they should start companies but because the will to create is encoded in human DNA.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.