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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

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Xenophanes
Elegist
Epigrammatist
Philosopher
Poet
Xenophanes of Colophon
Atheism
Religion
Hands
Horses
Look
Cows
Looks
Gods
Would
Draw
Like
Draws
Horse

More quotes by Xenophanes

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God is one, supreme among gods and men, and not like mortals in body or in mind.The whole [of god] sees, the whole perceives, the whole hears. But without effort he sets in motion all things by mind and thought.
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All men begin their learning with Homer.
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If God had not made brown honey, men would think figs much sweeter than they do.
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This upper limit, of earth at our feet is visible and touches the air, but below it reaches to infinity
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But without effort [God] sets in motion all things by mind and thought.
Xenophanes
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No man knows distinctly anything, and no man ever will.
Xenophanes
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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
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It isn't right to judge strength as better than good wisdom.
Xenophanes
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If oxen and lions had hands and could paint with their hands and produce works of art, as men do, horses would paint the forms of the gods likes horses and oxen like oxen. Each would represent them with bodies according to the bodies of each. So the Ethiopians make their gods black and snub-nosed the Thracians give theirs red hair and blue eyes.
Xenophanes
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If oxen and horses and lions could draw and paint, they would delineate the gods in their own image.
Xenophanes
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...for our wisdom is better than the strength of men or of horses. ... nor is it right to prefer strength to excellent wisdom. For if there should be in the city [any athlete whose skill] is honoured more than strength ... the city would not on that account be any better governed.
Xenophanes
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Truly the gods have not from the beginning revealed all things to mortals, but by long seeking, mortals discover what is better.
Xenophanes
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Pure truth no man has seen, nor ever shall know.
Xenophanes
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If horses had Gods, they would look like horses.
Xenophanes
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No human being will ever know the truth, for even if they happen to say it by chance, they would not even know they had done so.
Xenophanes
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All things that come into being and grow are earth and water.
Xenophanes
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The Ethiopians say that their gods are snub-nosed and black the Thracians that theirs have light blue eyes and red hair.
Xenophanes
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Men always makes gods in their own image.
Xenophanes
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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
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If cattle and horses, or lions, had hands...
Xenophanes