Diogenes of Sinope

"He once begged alms of a statue, and, when asked why he did so, replied, "To get practice in being refused."

"Diogenes Laërtius, Life of Diogenes, translated by Robert Drew Hicks"

"Being asked where in Greece he saw good men, he replied, "'Good men nowhere, but good boys at Sparta."

"Diogenes the cynic, seeing one of the so-called freedmen pluming himself, while many heartily congratulated him, marveled at the absence of reason and discernment. “A man might as well,” he said, “pro…"

"Diogenes of Sinope entry at The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy"

"On reaching Athens he fell in with Antisthenes. Being repulsed by him, because he never welcomed pupils, by sheer persistence Diogenes wore him out. Once when he stretched out his staff against him, t…"

"Self-taught poverty is a help toward philosophy, for the things which philosophy attempts to teach by reasoning, poverty forces us to practice."

"When people laughed at him because he walked backward beneath the portico, he said to them: "Aren't you ashamed, you who walk backward along the whole path of existence, and blame me for walking backw…"