Of what use is a philosopher who doesn't hurt anybody's feelings?
DiogenesRead
We come into the world alone and we die alone. Why, in life, should we be any less alone?
Interpretation
What this quote means
Life is inherently solitary, from birth to death, and our experiences reflect this solitude.
This quote by Diogenes emphasizes the fundamental nature of human existence as solitary. It suggests that despite the social connections, the journey of life is ultimately a personal experience where one is responsible for their own thoughts and emotions. Diogenes, known for his philosophical beliefs in cynicism, challenges the idea that we should not embrace our solitude. Rather, he asserts that acknowledging our individuality is essential to understanding our existence.
Themes
SolitudeExistenceIndividualityPhilosophyLife
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a philosophical discussion about the nature of existence.
More from Diogenes
All quotes →The 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
All things are in common among friends.
DiogenesRead
Man is the most intelligent of the animals - and the most silly.
DiogenesRead
Similar quotes
Forbid a man to think for himself or to act for himself and you may add the joy of piracy and the zest of smuggling to his life.
Elbert HubbardRead
But to manipulate men, to propel them toward goals which you-the social reformers-see, but they may not, is to deny their human essence, to treat them as objects without wills of their own, and therefore to degrade them.
Isaiah BerlinRead
Life holds one great but quite commonplace mystery. Though shared by each of us and known to all, seldom rates a second thought. That mystery, which most of us take for granted and never think twice about, is time. Calendars and clocks exist to measure time, but that signifies little because we all know that an hour can seem as eternity or pass in a flash, according to how we spend it. Time is life itself, and life resides in the human heart.
Michael EndeRead
Religion, a mediaeval form of unreason, when combined with modern weaponry becomes a real threat to our freedoms. This religious totalitarianism has caused a deadly mutation in the heart of Islam and we see the tragic consequences in Paris today.
Salman RushdieRead
A democracy,- that is a government of all the people, by all the people, for all the people; of course, a government of the principles of eternal justice, the unchanging law of God; for shortness' sake I will call it the idea of Freedom.
Theodore ParkerRead
This kind of gaping inequality gives lie to the promise that’s at the very heart of America: that this is a place where you can make it if you try. We tell people - we tell our kids - that in this country, even if you’re born with nothing, work hard and you can get into the middle class. We tell them that your children will have a chance to do even better than you do. That’s why immigrants from around the world historically have flocked to our shores.
Barack ObamaRead