According to legend, Alexander the Great came to visit the philosopher Diogenes of Sinope. Alexander wanted to fulfill a wish for Diogenes and asked him what he desired. As told by Diogenes Laërtius, Diogenes replied, "Stand out of my light."
One day while he was eating a frugal dish of lentils, he was challenged by the philosopher Aristippus, who, for his part, led a golden life as he was one of the king’s courtiers.
Aristippus scornfully told him:
“See, if you learned to crawl before the king, you wouldn’t have to settle for rubbish like this vulgar dish of lentils!”
Diogenes replied:
“If you’d learned to make do with lentils, you wouldn’t have to crawl before the king!”
He should be ashamed to think nature doesn't make mistakes. Although, and not to "it was a different time" this, he probably didn't know about cancer and had some other excuse for birth defects.
You can't fully extract yourself from your cultural environment, exceptional philosophers like him already managed to do that a lot more than commoners but he missed other things, it's to be expected. Reminds me of the people who wrote the first Men's Rights Rights of Man and of the Citizen during the French revolution which was incredible progress and yet they voluntarily ignored women, despite women fighting to be mentioned (like her https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympe_de_Gouges).
He was a raving homeless man who frequently masturbated in public and antagonized anyone who would approach him. However, beyond all that he was one of the smartest people in the ancient world and lived life never comporimising his principles.
