Xenophanes

men god image

“Men always makes gods in their own image.”

― Xenophanes (570-478BC)

knowledge distinct never

“No man knows distinctly anything, and no man ever will.”

― Xenophanes (570-478BC)

cow horse hand draw god

"If cows and horses had hands and could draw, cows would draw gods that look like cows and horses would draw gods that look like horses."

― Xenophanes (570-478BC)

god reveal knowledge seeking time guess

“The gods did not reveal, from the beginning,

All things to us, but in the course of time

Through seeking we may learn and know things better.

But as for certain truth, no man has known it,

Nor shall he know it,neither of the gods

Nor yet of all the things of which I speak.

For even if by chance he were to utter

The final truth, he would himself not know it:

For all is but a woven web of guesses”

― Xenophanes (570-478BC)

sea source water wind cloud weather climate

"The sea is the source of water and the source of wind; for neither would blasts of wind arise in the clouds and blow out from within them, except for the great sea, nor would the streams of rivers nor the rain-water in the sky exist but for the sea ; but the great sea is the begetter of clouds and winds and rivers."

― Xenophanes (570-4758C)

ethiop god black flat-nose red hair god shape

"The Ethiops say that their gods are flat-nosed and black,

While the Thracians say that theirs have blue eyes and red hair.

“If oxen and horses and lions had hands and were able to draw with their hands and do the same things as men, horses would draw the shapes of gods to look like horses and oxen would draw them to look like oxen, and each would make the gods' bodies have the same shape as they themselves had."

― Xenophanes (570-478BC)