Skip to content

Order by December 10 for delivery before Christmas. Shop gifts

Why Dog? I wag for givers, bark at refusers, bite the wicked.

Diogenes, Diogenes Laertius 6.60

The source

"Why Dog? I wag for givers, bark at refusers, bite the wicked." Diogenes said it in Diogenes Laertius 6.60. Translated from the original Greek by Spartan Surfers.

"τοὺς μὲν διδόντας σαίνων, τοὺς δὲ μὴ διδόντας ὑλακτῶν, τοὺς δὲ πονηροὺς δάκνων."

Original Greek, Diogenes Laertius 6.60. Greek: Hicks 1925 Loeb text via Perseus.

Who said it

Diogenes (c. 412–323 BC). The Cynic who lived in a jar in Athens and told Alexander the Great to get out of his sun.

Questions

Who said "Why Dog? I wag for givers, bark at refusers, bite the wicked."?
Diogenes (c. 412–323 BC). Source: Diogenes Laertius 6.60.
What is the original Greek?
τοὺς μὲν διδόντας σαίνων, τοὺς δὲ μὴ διδόντας ὑλακτῶν, τοὺς δὲ πονηροὺς δάκνων. Translated from the original Greek by Spartan Surfers.

Filed under Character.

More from Diogenes