Xenophanes Quotes

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

Xenophanes

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Quotes to Explore

• 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.

  

  Xenophanes
  • Time
  • Men
  • Science

• The Ethiopians say that their gods are snub-nosed and black the Thracians that theirs have light blue eyes and red hair.

  

  Xenophanes
  • Black
  • Light
  • Eyes

• ἀλλ᾽οἱ βροτοὶ δοκέουσι γεννᾶσθαι θεοὺς,τὴν σφετέρην δ᾽ἐσθῆτα ἔχειν φωνήν τε δέμας τε.

  

  Xenophanes

• No human being will ever know the Truth, for even if they happen to say it by chance, they would not even known they had done so.

  

  Xenophanes
  • Done
  • Truth
  • Know

• It takes a wise man to recognize a wise man.

  

  Xenophanes
  • Man
  • Wise
  • Wise Man

• All men begin their learning with Homer.

  

  Xenophanes
  • Men
  • Learning
  • Begin

• The gods did not reveal, from the beginning, all things to us.

  

  Xenophanes
  • Beginning
  • Things
  • Reveal

• It isn't right to judge strength as better than good wisdom.

  

  Xenophanes
  • Good
  • Wisdom
  • Judge

• 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.

  

  Xenophanes
  • Work
  • Men
  • Hands

• God is one, greatest of gods and men, not like mortals in body or thought.

  

  Xenophanes
  • God
  • Men
  • Thought

• Ethiopians imagine their gods as black and snub-nosed; Thracians blue-eyed and red-haired. But if horses or lions had hands, or could draw and fashion works as men do, horses would draw the gods shaped like horses and lions like lions, making the gods resemble themselves.

  

  Xenophanes
  • Men
  • Black
  • Fashion

• Men create the gods in their own image.

  

  Xenophanes
  • Men
  • Create
  • Own

• Better than the strength of men and horses is our wisdom.

  

  Xenophanes
  • Men
  • Wisdom
  • Strength

• 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.

  

  Xenophanes
  • Men
  • Hands
  • Feet

• There is one God - supreme among gods and men - who is like mortals in neither body nor mind.

  

  Xenophanes
  • God
  • Men
  • Mind

• 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

  

  Xenophanes
  • Men
  • Truth
  • Chance

• 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
  • Religion
  • Hands
  • Horse

• Αἰθίοπές τε <θεοὺς σφετέρους> σιμοὺς μέλανάς τεΘρῇκἐς τε γλαυκοὺς καὶ πυρρούς <φασι πέλεσθαι>.

  

  Xenophanes

• The clear and perfect truth no man has seen, nor will there be anyone who knows about the gods and what I say about all things...; for, however perfect what he says may be, yet he does not know it; all things are matters of opinion.

  

  Xenophanes
  • Men
  • May
  • Truth

• Truly the gods have not from the beginning revealed all things to mortals, but by long seeking, mortals discover what is better.

  

  Xenophanes
  • Long
  • Science
  • Beginning

• This upper limit, of earth at our feet is visible and touches the air, but below it reaches to infinity

  

  Xenophanes
  • Science
  • Earth
  • Air

• 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.

  

  Xenophanes
  • Men
  • Done
  • Deception

• 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
  • Great
  • Water
  • Sea

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

  

  Xenophanes
  • Earth