The hedonistic philosopher Aristippus won a comfortable sinecure at the court of Dionysius, tyrant of Syracuse. One day, Aristippus observed Diogenes preparing some lentils for a modest meal. "If you would only learn to compliment Dionysius," he remarked, "you wouldn't have to live on lentils." "And if you would only learn to live on lentils," Diogenes retorted, "you wouldn't have to flatter Dionysius."
[The psychologist Paul Ekman named his famous study of gifted face-readers the Diogenes Project in honor of Diogenes's practice of wandering around Athens with a lantern, peering into people's faces in search of an honest man.]
Sources
E. Fuller, 2500 Anecdotes
