Diogenes on Communication

 Diogenes de Sinope (called so because he was born in Synop which is now in Turkey) is also known as Diogenes the Cynic, the founder of Cynicism. He lived between 412 and 323 BC and died in Corinth (a place that is also famous or a particular style of ancient Greek pillars.)

Of course, cynicism didn’t mean then what it means now and the Cynics were actually the precursors of the Stoics, who came later with Zeno.

Like most of my icons, Diogenes was provocative, both in thought and life and he courted controversy so that he could bring in social change. The son of a banker, he was involved in a scandal about defacing currency in Synope and moved to Athens. Here, he challenged the Athenian ethos in every way imaginable. He slept in a tub in public view, ate in the market-place and did other unspeakable things in public against the prevailing social etiquette. He had no shame in begging and exulted in his extreme poverty. Among the many evergreen Diogenes quotes is this one: “He has the most who can make the most of the least.” 

Diogenes made a habit of arguing with Plato and disrupting his lectures on Socrates. He is also known as the man who lived after insulting Alexander. True to his flagrantly outrageous life, he was captured by pirates and sold into slavery.

We know about Diogenes of Sinope from the writings of another Diogenes (Laertius) who wrote a book called Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers in which he writes anecdotes about Diogenes’ life and talks about his writings.

But why am I telling you about Diogenes? This post is not really a digression from the topic I thought I’d continue from my last post.

Diogenes de sinope is responsible for one of my most favourite sayings. In fact, whether or not they attribute it to him, this is one of the most used Diogenes quotes by people all over the world. I use it often to illustrate the importance of one of the most vital, most difficult to master, most underrated and least understood verbal communication skills: Listening.

We have been given two ears and one tongue so that we may listen more and talk less.

Thus spake Diogenes.

Image from: www.davemckay.co.uk/philosophy/diogenes/