Of what use is a philosopher who doesn't hurt anybody's feelings?
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.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Good friends offer guidance, while enemies challenge us, both being crucial for personal growth.
This quote by Diogenes highlights the importance of both friends and enemies in a person's life. Good friends provide support and wisdom, helping an individual grow and learn, while rivals or enemies challenge us, prompting self-reflection and accountability. Together, they play a critical role in shaping one's character and decisions.
Themes
FriendsEnemiesSelf-PreservationGrowthWisdom
In practice
Example use cases
During a speech on personal development, one might use this quote to emphasize the value of diverse relationships.
More from Diogenes
All quotes βThe art of being a slave is to rule one's master.
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I am not an Athenian or a Greek, but a citizen of the world.
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We come into the world alone and we die alone. Why, in life, should we be any less alone?
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All things are in common among friends.
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Man is the most intelligent of the animals - and the most silly.
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Similar quotes
Friends are to be feared, not so much for what they make us do as what they keep us from doing.
Henrik IbsenRead
My best friend is the man who in wishing me well wishes it for my sake.
AristotleRead
We must meet our duty and convince the world that we are just friends and brave enemies.
Thomas JeffersonRead
The dog of your boyhood teaches you a great deal about friendship, and love, and death: Old Skip was my brother. They had buried him under our elm tree, they said-yet this wasn't totally true. For he really lay buried in my heart.
Willie MorrisRead
If youβll believe in me, Iβll believe in you.
Lewis CarrollRead
A friend is a person with whom I may be sincere. Before him I may think aloud. I am arrived at last in the presence of a man so real and equal, that I may drop even those undermost garments of dissimulation, courtesy, and second thought, which men never put off, and may deal with him with the simplicity and wholeness with which one chemical atom meets another.
Ralph Waldo EmersonRead