Of what use is a philosopher who doesn't hurt anybody's feelings?
DiogenesRead
It is the privilege of the gods to want nothing, and of godlike men to want little.
Interpretation
Desiring little is a mark of greatness and divine nature.
This quote by Diogenes reflects the idea that true fulfillment comes from minimizing one's desires. It implies that those who possess divine qualities or godlike traits are able to find contentment with less, suggesting that the fewer possessions or desires one has, the closer one is to a transcendent state of being.
In practice
In a motivational speech about minimalist living, one could use this quote to emphasize the importance of reducing material desires.
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.
Either kill me or take me as I am, because I'll be damned if I ever change.
A lot of people, because of my contempt for the false consolations of religion, think of me as a symbolic public opponent of that in extremis. And sometimes that makes me feel a bit alarmed, to be the repository of other people's hope.
There is a certain indolence in us, a wish not to be disturbed, which tempts us to think that when things are quiet, all is well. Subconsciously, we tend to give the preference to 'social peace,' though it be only apparent, because our lives and possessions seem then secure. Actually, human beings acquiesce too easily in evil conditions; they rebel far too little and too seldom. There is nothing noble about acquiescence in a cramped life or mere submission to superior force.
In the very early days of Wham! the attention felt great, but I do wonder how much freedom I gave away by trying to become something I wasn't.
Paradox: how do we know what we have failed to see because we have no language to express it, thus we cannot know that we have failed to see it.
The ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is generally understood. Indeed, the world is ruled by little else.
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