Onesicritus Quotes
Onesicritus of Astypalaea was a Greek Cynic philosopher of the late fourth century BC, a pupil of Diogenes of Sinope, who accompanied Alexander the Great on his Indian campaign as a navigator and historian. According to Strabo, he was sent by Alexander to converse with the Indian sages, the gymnosophists, on his behalf, and his lost work How Alexander Was Educated and his Indica gave the first Greek philosophical account of an Indian intellectual tradition, in which he found in the gymnosophists confirmation of the Cynic ideal of austere natural life. The quotes below are attributed to Onesicritus, organized by topic.
Onesicritus on Knowledge
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Attributed to Onesicritus:
“The gymnosophists of India confirm what Diogenes had already taught.”
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Attributed to Onesicritus:
“Travel does not change the wise; it gives them new occasions for the same wisdom.”
Onesicritus on Politics
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Attributed to Onesicritus:
“Alexander educated by Diogenes would have been Alexander indeed.”
Onesicritus on Truth
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Attributed to Onesicritus:
“What is taught in many tongues is more likely to be true than what is taught in one.”
Onesicritus on Virtue
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Attributed to Onesicritus:
“The wise man, naked under the sun, has more to teach than the king under his canopy.”