Demonax Quotes
Demonax was a Cypriot Cynic philosopher of the second century AD who lived for most of his long life in Athens. The biographer Lucian, his pupil, devoted to him a brief Life that has preserved most of what is known about him, painting a portrait of a humane and witty Cynic in the lineage of Diogenes and Crates who freed the school from its harsher and more theatrical excesses. The quotes below are attributed to Demonax, organized by topic.
Demonax on Freedom
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Attributed to Demonax:
“He who needs nothing has nothing to fear.”
Demonax on Knowledge
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“Steve Buyer in: Congressional Record 109th Congress (2005-2006) , The Library of Congress, 24 May 2006.”
I move to suspend the rules and concur in the Senate amendment to the bill (H.R. 5037) to amend titles 38 and 18, United States Code , to prohibit certain demonstrations at cemeteries under the control of the National Cemetery Administration and at Arlington National Cemetery, and for other purposes….Prohibition.--No person may carry out-- ``(1) a demonstration on the property of a cemetery under -
“Noam Chomsky in: Corporate Journalism Noam Chomsky interviewed by Bernie Dwyer , Radio Havana, 28 October 2003.”
One of the problems of organizing in the North, in the rich countries , is that people tend to think - even the activists - that instant gratification is required. You constantly hear: 'Look I went to a demonstration, and we didn't stop the war so what's the use of doing it again? -
“F.M.Cornford in: R.E.Allen Studies in Plato's Metaphysics (RLE: Plato) , Routledge, 10 September 2012, p. 72.”
... mathematicians say—the construction propounded will be possible too, and once more the demonstration will correspond, in the reverse order to the analysis ; but if we come upon something that is admitted is impossible the problem will also be impossible. It is quite possible to accept that Plato 'discovered' the method of Analysis, in the same sense as Aristotle discovered the syllogism ; that -
“Alistair Cameron Crombie in: Robert Grosseteste and the Origins of Experimental Science, 1100-1700 , Clarendon Press, 1953, p. 25.”
The idea that the order of demonstration was the order of nature came from Plato . Aristotle said that the order of discovery was the reverse of the order of demonstration. -
“Knowledge is the sure and undoubted resolution by experiment of all opinions concerning the truth ... Experiment is manifest demonstration of the truth, and resolution the putting away of doubt . We cannot be resolved of any doubt save by experiment, and therefore is no better to make it than on ourselves. Let us therefore verify what we have said about concerning the truth, beginning with ourselves.”
Gerhard Dorn in: “Theatrum Chemicum Volume 1” quoted in: Bernard X. Bovasso Jung, Faust and the Devil: Return to Alexandria & the Voices of the Dead , AuthorHouse, 10 August 2012, p. 43.
Demonax on Mind
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“... mathematicians say—the construction propounded will be possible too, and once more the demonstration will correspond, in the reverse order to the analysis ; but if we come upon something that is admitted is impossible the problem will also be impossible. It is quite possible to accept that Plato 'discovered' the method of Analysis, in the same sense as Aristotle discovered the syllogism ; that is to say, he was the first to reflect upon the process of thought involved and to describe it in contrast with the process of Synthesis .”
F.M.Cornford in: R.E.Allen Studies in Plato's Metaphysics (RLE: Plato) , Routledge, 10 September 2012, p. 72.
Demonax on Nature
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“The idea that the order of demonstration was the order of nature came from Plato . Aristotle said that the order of discovery was the reverse of the order of demonstration.”
Alistair Cameron Crombie in: Robert Grosseteste and the Origins of Experimental Science, 1100-1700 , Clarendon Press, 1953, p. 25.
Demonax on Politics
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“Dr. Zbigniew Brzezinski in: Congressional Record: Volume 149, Part 23 , Government Printing Office, 1 September 2008, p. 31866.”
We have actually experienced in recent months a dramatic demonstration of an unprecedented intelligence failure , perhaps the most significant intelligence failure in the history of the United States . -
“One of the problems of organizing in the North, in the rich countries , is that people tend to think - even the activists - that instant gratification is required. You constantly hear: 'Look I went to a demonstration, and we didn't stop the war so what's the use of doing it again?”
Noam Chomsky in: Corporate Journalism Noam Chomsky interviewed by Bernie Dwyer , Radio Havana, 28 October 2003.
Demonax on Time
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“We have actually experienced in recent months a dramatic demonstration of an unprecedented intelligence failure , perhaps the most significant intelligence failure in the history of the United States .”
Dr. Zbigniew Brzezinski in: Congressional Record: Volume 149, Part 23 , Government Printing Office, 1 September 2008, p. 31866.
Demonax on Truth
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Attributed to Demonax:
“The truly great man is he who has nothing to lose by the truth.”
Demonax on Virtue
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Attributed to Demonax:
“I criticize men, but I do not hate them; one cannot hate what one wishes to improve.”
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Attributed to Demonax:
“Philosophy is a wardrobe of disguises only when it is not yet philosophy.”
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Attributed to Demonax:
“Laughter that wounds is not Cynic; Cynic laughter heals.”