Xenophanes Quotes on Knowledge

Quotes

• “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.”

  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>.

• 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.”

• Attributed to Xenophanes:

  “By seeking, mortals find in time what is better.”

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

  Mortals deem that the gods are begotten as they are, and have clothes like theirs, and voice and form. Diels-Kranz (D-K), fragment 14

• “Mortals deem that the gods are begotten as they are, and have clothes like theirs, and voice and form. Diels-Kranz (D-K), fragment 14”

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

• “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>.”

  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. Fragment 15 (D-K)

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

  Ethiopians say that their gods are snubnosed and black Thracians that they are pale and red-haired. Fragment 16 (D-K)

• “Ethiopians say that their gods are snubnosed and black Thracians that they are pale and red-haired. Fragment 16 (D-K)”

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

• “Fragment 23, as quoted in Notes on Greek Philosophy by Anthony Preus (Global Academic Publishing, 1996), p. 10”

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

• “Fragment 27, as quoted in Xenophanes of Colophon: Fragments , trans. J. H. Lesher (University of Toronto Press, 2001), p. 124”

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