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Xenophanes Quotes

570 BC–480 BC Greece

Xenophanes of Colophon (Greek Ξενοφάνης ὁ Κολοφώνιος, Xenophánes; 570 – 480 BC) was a Greek philosopher, poet, and social and religious critic. Our knowledge of his views comes from his surviving poetry, all of which are fragments passed down as quotations by later Greek writers.

Greece
Philosophers
Poets

Also known as: Xenophanes of Colophon

Random Xenophanes quote

8 quotes

There is one god, greatest among gods and men, similar to mortals neither in shape nor in thought.

Pure truth no man has seen, nor ever shall know.

Mortals deem that the gods are begotten as they are,
and have clothes like theirs, and voice and form.

For all things are from the earth and to the earth all things come in the end.

Ethiopians say that their gods are snubnosed and black
Thracians that they are pale and red-haired.

For neither if there were a good boxer among the people, nor if there were a pentathlete or wrestling, nor again if there were someone swift of foot - which is most honoured of all men's deed of strength - would for this reason a city be better governed.

But if cattle and horses and lions had hands
or could paint with their hands and create works such as men do,
horses like horses and cattle like cattle
also would depict the gods' shapes and make their bodies
of such a sort as the form they themselves have.

The Ethiops say that their gods are flat-nosed and black,
While the Thracians say that theirs have blue eyes and red hair.
Yet if cattle or horses or lions had hands and could draw,
And could sculpt like men, then the horses would draw their gods
Like horses, and cattle like cattle; and each they would shape
Bodies of gods in the likeness, each kind, of their own.

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Xenophanes (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.