Inwardly, we ought to be different in every respect, but our outward dress should blend in with the crowd.
—Seneca, Moral Letters, 5.2
Diogenes the Cynic was a controversial philosopher who wandered the streets like a homeless person. A few thousand years later, his utterances still make us think. But if most of us had seen him at the time, we’d have thought: Who is that crazy guy?
It’s tempting to take philosophy to extremes, but who does that serve? In fact, rejection of the basics of society alienates other people, even threatens them. More important, outward transformation—in our clothes, in our cars, in our grooming—might feel important but is superficial compared with the inward change. That’s the change that only we know about.
* Source: The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman