EPISODE 53 Diogenes: The Punk Rocker of Ancient Greece

“A Socrates gone mad.” Plato referring to Diogenes “Had I not been Alexander, I would have liked to have been Diogenes.” Alexander the Great "If I wasn't Diogenes, I would be wishing to be Diogenes too." Diogenes “There are nowadays professors of philosophy, but not philosophers… To be a philosopher is not merely to have subtle thoughts, nor even to found a school, but so to love wisdom as to live according to its dictates, a life of simplicity, independence, magnanimity, and trust. It is to solve some of the problems of life, not only theoretically, but practically.” Henry David Thoreau “I am a citizen of the world.” Diogenes “Free from what? As if that mattered. . . . But your eyes should tell me brightly: free for what?” Friedrich Nietzsche “He maintained, moreover, that nothing in life has any chance of succeeding without strenuous practice, which is capable of overcoming any obstacles.” Diogenes Laertius 2,400 years ago, long before punk rock was created, there was a man in ancient Greece who embodied the spirit of punk as much as anyone ever did. He was known as Diogenes The Dog. And Sid Vicious had nothing on him. Between the end of the Peloponnesian War, the bloody reign of…