Social Judgement and Approval
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“It never ceases to amaze me: we all love ourselves more than other people, but care more about their opinion than our own.”
“If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.”
“Everything which is in any way beautiful is beautiful in itself, and terminates in itself, not having praise as part of itself.”
“To be ashamed only of what was really shameful, and to ignore men’s low opinion of other things.”
Excellence is its own reward
Creating one's own life requires judging self-worth by self-generated ideals; applause or disdain from others becomes insignificant because attaining excellence itself bestows pride, fulfilment and true self-esteem.
“Some things are up to us and some are not up to us. Our opinions are up to us, and our impulses, desires, aversions - in short, whatever is our own doing. Our bodies are not up to us, nor are our possessions, our reputations, or our public offices ...”
“To help others and be eager to share, not to be a pessimist, and never to doubt your friends’ affection for you.”
“Why do you take pleasure in praise from those you cannot praise yourself?”
“‘But I get to wear a crown of gold.’ If you have your heart set on wearing crowns, why not make one out of roses; you will look even more elegant in that.”
“Whatever anyone does or says, I must be emerald and keep my colour.”
“Why do I not rather seek some real good - one which I could feel, not one which I could display? These things that draw the eyes of men, before which they halt, which they show to one another in wonder, outwardly glitter, but are worthless within.”
“Do you ask what it is that I seek in virtue? Only herself. For she offers nothing better; she herself is her own reward. Or does this seem to you too small a thing?”
“No one is laughed at who begins by laughing at himself.”
“It is easy in the world to live after the world’s opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.”
“A man is to carry himself in the presence of all opposition ... I ought to go upright and vital, and speak the rude truth in all ways ... Your goodness must have some edge to it, else it is none.”
“Put up with being laughed at on occasion; look around you, and give yourself a good shaking to find out who you really are.”
“Whatever it be, whether art or nature, that has inscribed in us this condition of living by reference to others, it does us much more harm than good. We defraud ourselves out of what is actually useful to us in order to make appearances conform to common opinion. We care less about the real truth of our inner selves than about how we are known to the public.”
· Diogenes Laërtius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers 6.58; Robin Hard translation in Sayings and Anecdotes (2012)
“When someone said to Diogenes, ‘Most people laugh at you’, he replied, ‘And doubtless donkeys laugh at them; but just as they pay no heed to the donkeys, I pay none to them.’”
“The greatest height of heroism to which an individual can attain is to know how to face ridicule; better still, to know how to make oneself ridiculous and not to shrink from the ridicule.”
“[Chekhov] made a vow to himself: no more bowing and apologizing to people; no more complaining and blaming; no more disorderly living and wasting time. The answer to everything was work and love, work and love.”