Of what use is a philosopher who doesn't hurt anybody's feelings?
DiogenesRead
Dogs and philosophers do the greatest good and get the fewest rewards.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Dogs and philosophers often contribute positively to society but receive little recognition for it.
This quote by Diogenes underscores the idea that those who selflessly serve others, whether through loyalty and companionship like dogs or through wisdom and guidance like philosophers, often go unacknowledged. It highlights a common truth about life: the most genuine contributions may not always be rewarded with accolades or material benefits, yet their value is immense.
Themes
DogsPhilosophersGoodnessRewardsSelflessness
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about community service, one might quote Diogenes to highlight the importance of helping others without seeking recognition.
More from Diogenes
All quotes βThe art of being a slave is to rule one's master.
DiogenesRead
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.
DiogenesRead
I am not an Athenian or a Greek, but a citizen of the world.
DiogenesRead
We come into the world alone and we die alone. Why, in life, should we be any less alone?
DiogenesRead
All things are in common among friends.
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Similar quotes
But the saddest difference between them was that Zazetsky, as Luria said, 'fought to regain his lost faculties with the indomitable tenacity of the damned,' whereas Dr P. was not fighting, did not know what was lost. But who was more tragic, or who was more damned -- the man who knew it, or the man who did not?
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I find it wholesome to be alone the greater part of the time. To be in company, even with the best, is soon wearisome and dissipating. I love to be alone. I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude.
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Three things are necessary for the salvation of man: to know what he ought to believe; to know what he ought to desire; and to know what he ought to do.
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When the legislative and executive powers are united in the same person, or in the same body of magistrates, there can be no liberty; because apprehensions may arise, lest the same monarch or senate should enact tyrannical laws, to execute them in a tyrannical manner.
MontesquieuRead
Giving frees us from the familiar territory of our own needs by opening our mind to the unexplained worlds occupied by the needs of others.
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Me don't dip on nobody's side. Me don't dip on the black man's side, not the white man's side. Me dip on God's side, the one who create me and cause me to come from black and white.
Bob MarleyRead