Homer and Hesiod attributed to the gods all things which are disreputable and worthy of blame when done by men; and they told of them many lawless deeds, stealing, adultery, and deception of each other.

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.

In the beginning the gods did not at all reveal all things clearly to mortals, but by searching men in the course of time find them out better.

If cattle and horses, or lions, had hands...

But without effort [God] sets in motion all things by mind and thought.

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

Even if a man should chance to speak the most complete truth, yet he himself does not know it; all things are wrapped in appearances