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 scul… - Xenophanes

" "

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.

xenophanes willis-barnstone
English
Collect this quote

About Xenophanes

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.

Biography information from Wikiquote

Also Known As

Native Name: Ξενοφάνης ὁ Κολοφώνιος
Alternative Names: Xenophanes of Colophon
All quotes from Xenophanes Similar Quotes by other Originators

Try QuoteGPT

Chat naturally about what you need. Each answer links back to real quotes with citations.

Additional quotes by Xenophanes

ἀλλ᾽ εἰ χεῖρας ἔχον βόες <ἵπποι τ᾽> ἠὲ λέοντες
ἢ γράψαι χείρεσσι καὶ ἔργα τελεῖν ἅπερ ἄνδρες,
ἵπποι μέν θ᾽ ἵπποισι βόες δέ τε βουσὶν ὁμοίας
καί <κε> θεῶν ἰδέας ἔγραφον καὶ σώματ᾽ ἐποίουν
τοιαῦθ᾽ οἷόν περ καὐτοὶ δέμας εἶχον <ἕκαστοι>.
Sources available for members. Sign up free to see where this quote comes from
Greek
Find Similar

Works in ChatGPT, Claude, or Any AI

Add semantic quote search to your AI assistant via MCP. One command setup.

Set Up MCP
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.
Sources available for members. Sign up free to see where this quote comes from
Find Similar