Perdiccas threatened to put him to death unless he came to him, "That's nothing wonderful," Diogenes said, "for a beetle or a tarantula would do the same.

No labor, according to Diogenes, is good but that which aims at producing courage and strength of soul rather than of body.

To Xeniades, who had purchased Diogenes at the slave market, he said, "Come, see that you obey orders.