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Antisthenes Quotes

Greece

Greece
Philosophers

Random Antisthenes quote

21 quotes

It is a royal privilege to do good and be ill spoken of.

Being asked what learning is the most necessary, he replied, "How to get rid of having anything to unlearn."

States are doomed when they are unable to distinguish good men from bad.

As iron is eaten away by rust, so the envious are consumed by their own passion.

Pay attention to your enemies, for they are the first to discover your mistakes.

Wealth and poverty do not lie in a person's estate, but in their souls.

It is better to fight with a few good men against all the wicked, than with many wicked men against a few good men.

Virtue is the same for a man and for a woman.

It is better to fall in with crows than with flatterers; for in the one case you are devoured when dead, in the other case while alive.

Ill repute is a good thing and much the same as pain.

Once, when he was applauded by rascals, he remarked, "I am horribly afraid I have done something wrong."

There is no work so mean, but it would amply serve me to furnish me with sustenance.

Observe your enemies, for they first find out your faults.

One should attend to one's enemies, for they are the first persons to detect one's errors.

The investigation of the meaning of words is the beginning of education.

To all my friends without distinction I am ready to display my opulence: come one, come all; and whosoever likes to take a share is welcome to the wealth that lies within my soul.

When he was asked what advantage had accrued to him from philosophy, his answer was, “The ability to hold converse with myself.”

Antisthenes ... was asked on one occasion what learning was the most necessary, and he replied, "To unlearn one's bad habits."

Antisthenes ... used to say that the wise man would regulate his conduct as a citizen, not according to the established laws of the state, but according to the law of virtue.

Count all wickedness foreign and alien.

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Antisthenes (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.