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.
For we are all sprung from earth and water
But without effort [God] sets in motion all things by mind and thought.
It takes a wise man to recognize a wise man.
If God had not made brown honey, men would think figs much sweeter than they do.
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.