Diogenes (The coolest dude in ancient greece)

Was reading the second part of the Alexander trilogy by manfredi (for the 4th time in as many months, purely due to lack of new books), there is a scene where alexander meets 'diogenes the cynic' somewhere along the road during one of his conquests.

Diogenes, lived inside a tub and was THE original cynic (we'll put him down next to Jughead Jones & Johnny bravo in the list of my heroes). He was called "the dog" by his fellow greeks, because he lived on scraps and looked shabby, mangy like, well, a dog :) He did not beleive in the worldly ways of life and behaved mostly like a nutcase.

( Some of the stuff he has said are probably wittier than the wittiest of one liners like the ones you get on sitcoms on tv)

Here are some gems:

Diogenes once visited plato's home. During the course of their scientific discussion of what a man was, plato gave the definition of a man as an animal, bipedal and featherless, Diogenes promptly plucked a chicken and declared, "Here is Plato's man."

When asked what wine he found most pleasant to drink, Diogenes replied, "That for which other people pay." (Heh heh, funny guy) And, when he saw the child of a courtesan, (he separately referred to her as a "deadly honeyed potion") throwing stones at a crowd, he cried out: "Take care you don't hit your father."

Other Lines:

"When I die , I want to be buried face-down. The world will soon be turned topsy-turvy and I don't want to present my backside to the gods"

Being asked why people give to beggars, but not to philosophers, he said, "Because they think they may one day be lame or blind, but never expect that they will turn to philosophy." (Heh heh, makes a lotsa sense)

He once asked alms of a surly man, who said, "OK - if you can persuade me." "If I could have persuaded you," said Diogenes, "I would have told you to hang yourself."

And here is the pick of the lot:

When someone asked him about the difference between a wiseman and a madman, he replied

" There is but a finger's difference between a wise man and a fool. If a man raises his first finger and speaks, people think him wise. If he lifts his middle finger, they think him mad"

--- Most of what this guy said is blunt and pretty offensive sounding. But the general logic in his line of thought is worth pondering over. He, in fact was the founding father of the Cynical school of thought. (Heh heh, we all owe him one)

p.s - Diogenes the dog & Alexander the great died on the same day one aged 90 and the other 33