The Blunt Truth About 10 of the World’s Greatest Cynics
Would you believe that individualistic empowerment through public wanking was once a thing?
The Cynic School was a school of philosophy founded by Antisthenes in Athens, Greece, around 400 BCE. The first cynics were primarily influenced by Socrates, from whom they took their ideas about morals and virtue.
Below is a shortlist of 10 of the World’s Greatest Cynics, dating from ancient Greece to the twentieth century. The History of Cynicism is a work in progress. I want to write more about this topic as some of the cynicism rising stars have taken a left turn and are becoming more prominent and devious in the twenty-first century.
10 of the World’s Greatest Cynics
Archilochus
For some, the first cynic, and perhaps the most cynically named of all, is Archilochus. He lived in Paros in the 7th century BC. Centuries before the rise of The Cynic School.
He was a poet and soldier. He used satire to criticize corruption, greed, and other vices. He wrote the famous line:
“The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.”
