Diogenes understood this perfectly. He made it impossible for anyone to take anything from him. You can call this poverty, want, or necessity — use whatever scornful name you like. I still think he was happy. Show me another person who can lose nothing.
I think it's actually a kingly quality. Among all the greedy people, cheaters, and thieves in the world, here's one man who cannot be hurt. If you doubt that Diogenes was happy, you might as well doubt whether the gods themselves are happy enough. After all, the gods don't own farms or gardens. They don't have valuable estates with tenants paying rent. They don't have big loans earning interest.
Aren't you embarrassed? You stare at wealth with wonder and amazement. Look at the universe instead. You'll see that the gods own absolutely nothing — yet they give us everything. Do you really think a man who has stripped away all these random possessions is poor? Or is he more like the immortal gods?
Diogenes, a man of infinite spirit, perceived this, and made it impossible that anything should be taken from him. Call this security from loss poverty, want, necessity, or any contemptuous name you please: I shall consider such a man to be happy, unless you find me another who can lose nothing. If I am not mistaken, it is a royal attribute among so many misers, sharpers, and robbers, to be the one man who cannot be injured. If any one doubts the happiness of Diogenes, he would doubt whether the position of the immortal gods was one of sufficient happiness. because they have no farms or gardens, no valuable estates let to strange tenants, and no large loans in the money market. Are you not ashamed of yourself, you who gaze upon riches with astonished admiration? Look upon the universe: you will see the gods quite bare of property, and possessing nothing though they give everything. Do you think that this man who has stripped himself of all fortuitous accessories is a pauper, or one like to the immortal gods?