So long as you are a slave to the opinions of the many you have not yet approached freedom or tasted its nectar: But I do not mean by this that we ought to be shameless before all men and to do what we ought not; but all that we refrain from and all that we do, let us not do or refrain from merely because it seems to the multitude somehow honorable or base, but because it is forbidden by reason and the god within us.
Attribution disputed; shown as originally published.
Balancing independence with social norms is difficult.
Is it not absurd when a human being tries to find happiness somewhere outside himself, and thinks that wealth and birth and the influence of friends: is of the…
I think he who knows himself will know accurately, not the opinion of others about him, but what he is in reality: he ought to discover within himself what is …
The end and aim of the Cynic philosophy, as indeed of every philosophy, is happiness, but happiness that consists in living according to nature, and not accord…
The likings and dislikings of society, or of some powerful portion of it, are thus the main thing which has practically determined the rules laid down for gene…
Let us give ourselves indiscriminately to everything our passions suggest, and we will always be happy...Conscience is not the voice of Nature but only the voi…
The disposition of mankind, whether as rulers or as fellow-citizens, to impose their own opinions and inclinations as a rule of conduct on others, is so energe…