Quote of The Day 2/5/13

"I threw my cup away when I saw a child drinking from his hands at the trough."

-Diogenes

Love this.  Nothing like a nice swift kick in the head sometimes.  It seems to me most people I know (including myself) tend to equate niceties with necessities in one way or another.  Hey, we're American, it is only natural.  I think it is rare to find a person willing to set aside cultural norms and societal regularities, living in a manner immediately connected to present, natural surroundings and circumstances.  I mean, who really needs a cup?  Figuratively that is.  

And this can be learned from children.  Children may be dependent little brats, but they understand immediacy much more naturally than adults can.  It seems that with age, one can become entrenched in ideas and basic mannerisms that can potentially hinder one's ability to... live?  

Perhaps.  And perhaps I am a confounded moron.  Either way, I enjoy this quote.

Diogenes of Sinope (412/404-323 BC) was a Greek philosopher.  He is considered one of the founders of Cynic philosophy and is appropriately known as Diogenes the Cynic.  Perhaps that is why I like this guy.  He viewed society as corrupt and was exiled from Sinope for defacing currency which his father minted.  He begged for a living, apparently lived in a large ceramic jar at a marketplace, he badgered Plato by dissenting against his Socratic theories and disrupting his lectures, and is also known for mocking Alexander the Great in public.  Whoa.  This guy took it pretty far.  Ultimately his philosophy would have great influence on others and eventually trickle into the lasting Stoicism school of Greek thought.

Anarchy!