Xenophanes Quotes

1
Man made his gods, and furnished them
with his own body, voice, and garments.

2
If a horse or lion or a slow ox
had agile hands for paint and sculpture,
the horse would make his god a horse,
the ox would sculpt an ox.

3
Our gods have flat noses and black skins
say the Ethiopians. The Thracians say
our gods have red hair and hazel eyes.

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

The gods did riot: enrich man
with a knowledge of all things
from the beginning of life.
Yet man seeks, and in time
invents what may be better.

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

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

One god there is, in no way like mortal creatures either in bodily form or in the thought of his mind. The whole of him sees, the whole of him thinks, the whole of him hears. He stays always motionless in the same place; it is not fitting that he should move about now this way, now that.

One must be a sage to recognize a sage.

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

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.

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

I am Xenophanes! I AM GOD!

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

One day a dog was being thrashed in the street,
and behold, Pythagoras, philosopher of spirits,
was walking by.
His heart was in his mouth
for the poor pup.
'Stop! Stop!' he cried.
'Don't beat him any more.
This is my dear friend's soul.
I recognize the voice when I hear him bark.

Everything comes from the earth,
and everything ends in the earth.

The truth is that no man ever was or will be
who understands the gods and all I speak of.
If you stumble on some rocks of the whole truth
you never know it. There is always speculation.