“Yet the ivory gods, And the ebony gods, And the gods of diamond-jade, Are only silly puppet gods That people themselves Have made.”

Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Yet the ivory gods, And the ebony gods, And the gods of diamond-jade, Are only silly puppet gods That people themselves…" by Langston Hughes?
Langston Hughes photo
Langston Hughes 79
American writer and social activist 1902–1967

Related quotes

Thomas Fuller photo

“But our captain counts the image of God—nevertheless his image—cut in ebony as if done in ivory, and in the blackest Moors he sees the representation of the King of Heaven.”

Thomas Fuller (1608–1661) English churchman and historian

The Good Sea-Captain.
The Holy State and the Profane State (1642)

Christopher Hitchens photo

“Some people say that without God, people would give themselves permission to do anything. [Yet] only with God, only with the view that God’s on your side, can people give themselves permission to do things that otherwise would be called satanic.”

Christopher Hitchens (1949–2011) British American author and journalist

Freedom From Religion Foundation, 21/10/2007 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6WByhz44EA&t=4m25s
2000s, 2007

Allen Ginsberg photo

“I know I'm not God, are you? Don't be silly.
God? God? Everybody's God? Don't be silly.”

Allen Ginsberg (1926–1997) American poet

Source: Death and Fame: Last Poems, 1993-1997

Arthur Koestler photo

“A puppet of the Gods is a tragic figure, a puppet suspended on his chromosomes is merely grotesque.”

Arthur Koestler (1905–1983) Hungarian-British author and journalist

Epilogue
The Sleepwalkers: A History of Man's Changing Vision of the Universe (1959)
Context: The uomo universale of the Renaissance, who was artist and craftsman, philosopher and inventor, humanist and scientist, astronomer and monk, all in one, split up into his component parts. Art lost its mythical, science its mystical inspiration; man became again deaf to the harmony of the spheres. The Philosophy of Nature became ethically neutral, and "blind" became the favourite adjective for the working of natural law. The space-spirit hierarchy was replaced by the space-time continuum.... man's destiny was no longer determined from "above" by a super-human wisdom and will, but from "below" by the sub-human agencies of glands, genes, atoms, or waves of probability.... they could determine his fate, but could provide him with no moral guidance, no values and meaning. A puppet of the Gods is a tragic figure, a puppet suspended on his chromosomes is merely grotesque.

Max Lucado photo

“You are the only you God made… God made you and broke the mold.”

Max Lucado (1955) American clergyman and writer

Source: Cure for the Common Life: Living in Your Sweet Spot

Robert Browning photo
Sallustius photo
Julius Streicher photo

“Christ was a Jew, and God, he is supposed to have made the universe. That's a little far-fetched because if God made the world, who made God?”

Julius Streicher (1885–1946) German politician

To Leon Goldensohn, April 6, 1946, from "The Nuremberg Interviews" by Leon Goldensohn, Robert Gellately - History - 2004

Neale Donald Walsch photo
Cees Nooteboom photo

Related topics