As to the gods, I have no means of knowing either that they exist or do not exist.
ProtagorasRead
Concerning the gods, I have no means of knowing either that they exist or that they do not exist, nor what sort of form they may have; there are many reasons why knowledge on this subject is not possible, owing to the lack of evidence and the shortness of human life.
Interpretation
The quote expresses uncertainty about the existence of gods and the limitations of human knowledge.
Protagoras reflects on the philosophical dilemma regarding the existence of deities, suggesting that human understanding is constrained by the brevity of life and the absence of definitive evidence. He posits that the nature of gods, if they do exist, remains beyond our grasp, emphasizing the limits of human inquiry and the challenges inherent in exploring metaphysical questions.
In practice
This quote can be used in a discussion about the limits of human understanding in a philosophy class.
As to the gods, I have no means of knowing either that they exist or do not exist.
Everyone, including the Athenians [...] are right to accept advice from anyone, since it is incumbent on everyone to share in that sort of excellence, or else there can be no city at all.
As to gods, I have no way of knowing either that they exist or do not exist, or what they are like.
Many things prevent knowledge, including the obscurity of the subject and the brevity of human life
Africa is less a wilderness than a repository of primary and fundamental values, and less a barbaric land than an unfamiliar voice
Unless you come out of your mind and become a no-mind you will not know what life is all about, you will live in vain. You will not have your honeymoon, it is impossible. You will not know the sweetness that existence is full of and the ecstasy.
The hypocrite, certainly, is a secret atheist; for if he did believe there was a God, he durst not be so bold as to deceive Him to His face.
Now everything is wonderful and hazardous and nothing's hypothetical.
I want hard stories, I demand them from myself. Hard stories are worth the difficulty. It seems to me the only way I have forgiven anything, understood anything, is through that process of opening up to my own terror and pain and reexamining it, re-creating it in the story, and making it something different, making it meaningful - even if the meaning is only in the act of the telling.
The essential idea of Stoicism in my interpretation is, you don't control the world around you, you control how you respond. At 19, that's very empowering.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.