Xenophanes Quotes
Xenophanes of Colophon was a Greek philosopher and poet who traveled widely after leaving Ionia and lived to a great age. He produced the earliest sustained critique of anthropomorphic religion, arguing that human beings imagine the gods in their own image. The quotes below are attributed to Xenophanes, organized by topic.
Xenophanes on God
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Attributed to Xenophanes:
“If oxen and horses or lions had hands and could draw with their hands, horses would draw the figures of gods like horses, and oxen like oxen.”
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Attributed to Xenophanes:
“Mortals suppose that the gods are born, have clothes and voices and shapes like their own.”
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Attributed to Xenophanes:
“The Ethiopians say their gods are flat-nosed and dark; the Thracians, that theirs have blue eyes and red hair.”
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Attributed to Xenophanes:
“One god, greatest among gods and men, in no way like mortals in body or in mind.”
Xenophanes on Knowledge
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Attributed to Xenophanes:
“By seeking, mortals find in time what is better.”
Xenophanes on Truth
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Attributed to Xenophanes:
“No man knows or ever will know the truth about the gods and about everything I speak of; for even if one chanced to say the complete truth, yet oneself knows it not; but seeming is wrought over all things.”