“The question was once put to him, how we ought to behave to our friends; and the answer he gave was, "As we should wish our friends to behave to us."”

—  Diogenes Laërtius

Aristotle, 9.
The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers (c. 200 A.D.), Book 5: The Peripatetics

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "The question was once put to him, how we ought to behave to our friends; and the answer he gave was, "As we should wish…" by Diogenes Laërtius?
Diogenes Laërtius photo
Diogenes Laërtius 107
biographer of ancient Greek philosophers 180–240

Related quotes

Pythagoras photo

“We ought so to behave to one another as to avoid making enemies of our friends, and at the same time to make friends of our enemies.”

Pythagoras (-585–-495 BC) ancient Greek mathematician and philosopher

As quoted in Diogenes Laërtius, Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers, "Pythagoras", Sect. 23, as translated in Dictionary of Quotations http://archive.org/details/dictionaryquota02harbgoog (1906) by Thomas Benfield Harbottle, p. 320

Giovanni della Casa photo

“We ought to esteem him alone an agreeable and good-natured man, who, in his daily intercourse with others, behaves in such a manner as friends usually behave to each other. For as a person of that rustic character appears, wherever he comes, like a mere stranger: so, on the contrary, a polite man, wherever he goes, seems as easy as if he were amongst his intimate friends and acquaintance.”

Giovanni della Casa (1503–1556) Roman Catholic archbishop

Source: Galateo: Or, A Treatise on Politeness and Delicacy of Manners, p. 43

Jacob Bronowski photo

“The question of how man ought to behave is a social question, which always involves several people; and if he accepts no evidence and no judgment except his own, he has no tools with which to frame an answer.”

Jacob Bronowski (1908–1974) Polish-born British mathematician

Part 3: "The Sense of Human Dignity", §3 (p. 56) <!-- I find this cited in several places but not actually quoted in full anywhere. -->
Science and Human Values (1956, 1965)
Context: Positivists and analysts alike believe that the words is and ought belong to different worlds, so that sentences which are constructed with is usually have verifiable meaning, but sentences constructed with ought never have. This is because Ludwig Wittgenstein's unit, and Bertrand Russell's unit, is one man; all British empiricist philosophy is individualist. And it is of course clear that if the only criterion of true and false which a man accepts is that man's, then he has no base for social agreement. The question of how man ought to behave is a social question, which always involves several people; and if he accepts no evidence and no judgment except his own, he has no tools with which to frame an answer.

Francis Bacon photo

“Cosmus, Duke of Florence, was wont to say of perfidious friends, that "We read that we ought to forgive our enemies; but we do not read that we ought to forgive our friends."”

Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English philosopher, statesman, scientist, jurist, and author

No. 206
Apophthegms (1624)

Cosimo de' Medici photo

“We read that we ought to forgive our enemies; but we do not read that we ought to forgive our friends.”

Cosimo de' Medici (1389–1464) First ruler of the Medici political dynasty

Attributed to Cosimo de' Medici, Duke of Florence, in Apothegms by Francis Bacon, (1624) No. 206

“God gave us relatives. Thank god we can choose our friends.”

Этель Уоттс Мамфорд
Friedrich Nietzsche photo

“Go up close to your friend but do not go over to him! We should respect the enemy that is in our friend”

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German philosopher, poet, composer, cultural critic, and classical philologist
Dave Matthews photo

“Our good friend LeRoi Moore passed on and gave up his ghost today, and we will miss him forever.”

Dave Matthews (1967) American singer-songwriter, musician and actor

Concert the night of Moore's death. http://www.nme.com/news/dave-matthews-band/39071 (2008)

Emile Zola photo

“Existence is so bitter for every one of us! Ought we not forgive others much, my friend, if we wish to be forgiven ourselves?”

Emile Zola book Nana

Nana (1880).

Related topics