Xenophanes
Xenophanes
Xenophanes of Colophon was a Greek philosopher, theologian, poet, and social and religious critic. Xenophanes lived a life of travel, having left Ionia at the age of 25 and continuing to travel throughout the Greek world for another 67 years. Some scholars say he lived in exile in Sicily. Knowledge of his views comes from fragments of his poetry, surviving as quotations by later Greek writers. To judge from these, his elegiac and iambic poetry criticized and satirized a wide...
NationalityGreek
ProfessionPhilosopher
bodies cattle draw forms gods horses men produce shape works
If cattle and horses, or lions, had hands, or were able to draw with their feet and produce the works which men do, horses would draw the forms of gods like horses, and cattle like cattle, and they would make the gods' bodies the same shape as their own.
bodies cattle draw forms gods horses lions men work
But if cattle and horses or lions had hands, or were able to draw with their hands and do the work that men can do, horses would draw the forms of the gods like horses, and cattle like cattle, and they would make their bodies such as they each had themselves.
among god gods men mortals neither nor supreme
There is one God - supreme among gods and men - who is like mortals in neither body nor mind.
gods men
Men create the gods in their own image.
horses men strength wisdom
Better than the strength of men and horses is our wisdom.
men effort mind
God is one, supreme among gods and men, and not like mortals in body or in mind.The whole [of god] sees, the whole perceives, the whole hears. But without effort he sets in motion all things by mind and thought.
men deception done
Homer and Hesiod attributed to the gods all things which are disreputable and worthy of blame when done by men; and they told of them many lawless deeds, stealing, adultery, and deception of each other.
horse believe men
There is one god, greatest among gods and men, who bears no similarity to humans either in shape or thought... but humans believe that the gods are born like themselves, and that the gods wear clothes and have bodies like humans and speak in the same way... but if cows and horses or lions had hands or could draw with the hands and manufacture the things humans can make, then horses would draw the forms of gods like horses, cows like cows, and they would make the gods' bodies resemble those which each kind of animal had itself.
men thinking honey
If God had not made brown honey, men would think figs much sweeter than they do.
men knows pure
Pure truth no man has seen, nor ever shall know.
men research mortals
In the beginning the gods did not at all reveal all things clearly to mortals, but by searching men in the course of time find them out better.
men
All men begin their learning with Homer.
men doe chance
Even if a man should chance to speak the most complete truth, yet he himself does not know it; all things are wrapped in appearances
men
Men always makes gods in their own image.