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.
Keeping plenty of gold and jade in the palace makes no one able to defend it.
Infinity is just time on an ego trip.
This I can declare: things that are in heaven are more real than things that are in the world.
People must not be forced to adopt me as their favourite author, even for their own good.
A destruction, an annihilation that only man can provoke, only man can prevent.
While a modicum of consciousness may have had survivalist properties during an immemorial chapter of our evolution β so one theory goes β this faculty soon enough became a seditious agent working against us β¦ we need to hamper our consciousness for all we are worth or it will impose upon us a too clear vision of what we do not want to see β¦ Consciousness has forced us into the paradoxical position of striving to be unself-conscious of what we are β hunks of spoiling flesh on disintegrating bones
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