--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Man does not create gods, in spite of…" description: "\"Man does not create gods, in spite of appearances. The times, the age, impose them on him. Man can serve his age or rebel against it, but the target of..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/744/stanislaw-lem-7367_age_man-does-not-create-gods-in-spite-of-app_336673.jpg" --- # Man does not create gods, in spite of appearances. The… ![“Man does not create gods, in spite of appearances. The times, the age, impose them on him. Man can serve his age or rebel against it, but the target of his cooperation or rebellion comes to him from outside.” quote by Stanislaw Lem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/744/stanislaw-lem-7367_age_man-does-not-create-gods-in-spite-of-app_336673.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/744/stanislaw-lem-7367_age_man-does-not-create-gods-in-spite-of-app_336673.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/744/stanislaw-lem-7367_age_man-does-not-create-gods-in-spite-of-app_336673.jpg) > “Man does not create gods, in spite of appearances. The times, the age, impose them on him. Man can serve his age or rebel against it, but the target of his cooperation or rebellion comes to him from outside.” [Stanislaw Lem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanislaw-lem/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Human societies create deities based on cultural expectations; external forces shape whether individuals conform or resist. **In simple terms:** People make gods from their era’s pressures. Key Takeaway Question the origins of your beliefs. Themes philosophy power society religion conformity Mood critical contemplative Type philosophical analytical When to use this quote - political movements - religious reforms - technological revolutions - personal moral dilemmas Key Concepts existentialism social construct authority Questions to Reflect On - Do you see yourself as shaped by your age or as an independent thinker? - What are modern “gods” you encounter? A Different Perspective The view may ignore innate human agency in belief formation. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Age](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/age/) [Cooperation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cooperation/) [Gods](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gods/) [Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men/) [Rebel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rebel/) [Rebellion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rebellion/) [Spite](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/spite/) ## Related quotes > [Man does not create gods, in spite of appearances. The times, the age, impose them on him.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanislaw-lem/man-does-not-create-gods-in-spite-of-appearances-the-times-the-age-3/) [Stanislaw Lem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanislaw-lem/) > [“Man does not create gods, in spite of appearances. The times, the age, impose them on him. (tr. by Joanna Kilmartin and Steve Cox)”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanislaw-lem/man-does-not-create-gods-in-spite-of-appearances-the-times-the-age/) [Stanislaw Lem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanislaw-lem/) > [... A CLOCKWORK ORANGE- and I said: 'That's a fair gloopy title. Who ever heard of a clockwork orange?' Then I read a malenky…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-burgess/a-clockwork-orange-and-i-said-that-s-a-fair-gloopy-title-who-ever/) [Anthony Burgess](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-burgess/) > [“People create their own gods so that they could compete with other people's gods. It is not the humanity that fights but human gods.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aporva-kala/people-create-their-own-gods-so-that-they-could-compete-with-other/) [Aporva Kala](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aporva-kala/) > [Men create the gods in their own image.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/xenophanes/men-create-the-gods-in-their-own-image/) [Xenophanes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/xenophanes/) > [Fear was the first thing on Earth to create gods.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lucretius/fear-was-the-first-thing-on-earth-to-create-gods/) [Lucretius](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lucretius/) > [We create gods and struggle with them, and they bless us.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hermann-hesse/we-create-gods-and-struggle-with-them-and-they-bless-us/) [Hermann Hesse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hermann-hesse/) > [“Tell me something. Do you believe in God?' Snow darted an apprehensive glance in my direction. 'What? Who still believes nowadays?' 'It isn't that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanis-aw-lem/tell-me-something-do-you-believe-in-god-snow-darted-an-apprehensive/) [Stanisław Lem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanis-aw-lem/) > [ Until he \[man\] has become fully human, until he learns to conduct himself as a member of the earth, he will continue to create… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-miller/until-he-man-has-become-fully-human-until-he-learns-to-conduct/) [Henry Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-miller/) > [Away from God and gods did this will lure me: what would there be to create if gods existed?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/away-from-god-and-gods-did-this-will-lure-me-what-would-there-be-to/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [Men create the gods after their own images.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/men-create-the-gods-after-their-own-images/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) > [I think it's the tendency to want to create gods and monotheistic absolutes and absolute certainties that is the continual temptation in human thought…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tony-harrison/i-think-it-s-the-tendency-to-want-to-create-gods-and-monotheistic/) [Tony Harrison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tony-harrison/) > [Oh these foolish men! They could not create so much as a worm, but they create gods by the dozens.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-de-montaigne/oh-these-foolish-men-they-could-not-create-so-much-as-a-worm-but-they/) [Michel de Montaigne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-de-montaigne/) > [Men create their own gods and thus have some slight understanding that they are self-fabricated. Women are much more susceptible, because they are completely…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-de-beauvoir/men-create-their-own-gods-and-thus-have-some-slight-understanding/) [Simone de Beauvoir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-de-beauvoir/) > [Oh senseless man, who cannot possibly make a worm or a flea and yet will create Gods by the dozen!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-de-montaigne/oh-senseless-man-who-cannot-possibly-make-a-worm-or-a-flea-and-yet/) [Michel de Montaigne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-de-montaigne/) ## More by Stanislaw Lem > [That human existence should repeat itself, well and good, but that it should repeat itself like a hackneyed tune, or a record a drunkard…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanislaw-lem/that-human-existence-should-repeat-itself-well-and-good-but-that-it/) [Stanislaw Lem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanislaw-lem/) > [“. . . according to Lem's Law, 'No one reads; if someone does read, he doesn't understand; if he understands, he immediately forgets' --…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanislaw-lem/according-to-lem-s-law-no-one-reads-if-someone-does-read-he-doesn-t/) [Stanislaw Lem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanislaw-lem/) > [Futurologists have been multiplying like flies since the day Herman Kahn made Cassandra's profession "scientific," yet somehow not one of them has come out…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanislaw-lem/futurologists-have-been-multiplying-like-flies-since-the-day-herman/) [Stanislaw Lem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanislaw-lem/) > [When the Universe was not so out of whack as it is today, and all the stars were lined up in their proper places,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanislaw-lem/when-the-universe-was-not-so-out-of-whack-as-it-is-today-and-all-the/) [Stanislaw Lem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanislaw-lem/) > [Psychoanalytic doctrine reveals the pig in man, a pig saddled with a conscience; the disastrous result is that the pig is uncomfortable beneath that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanislaw-lem/psychoanalytic-doctrine-reveals-the-pig-in-man-a-pig-saddled-with-a/) [Stanislaw Lem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanislaw-lem/) > [In Riemann, Hilbert or in Banach space Let superscripts and subscripts go their ways. Our symptotes no longer out of phase, We shall encounter,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanislaw-lem/in-riemann-hilbert-or-in-banach-space-let-superscripts-and-subscripts/) [Stanislaw Lem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanislaw-lem/) > [This is another lie. We are only seeking Man. We have no need of other worlds. A single world, our own, suffices us; but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanislaw-lem/this-is-another-lie-we-are-only-seeking-man-we-have-no-need-of-other/) [Stanislaw Lem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanislaw-lem/) > [“Man does not create gods, in spite of appearances. The times, the age, impose them on him. (tr. by Joanna Kilmartin and Steve Cox)”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanislaw-lem/man-does-not-create-gods-in-spite-of-appearances-the-times-the-age/) [Stanislaw Lem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanislaw-lem/) > [Cannibals prefer those who have no spines..](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanislaw-lem/cannibals-prefer-those-who-have-no-spines/) [Stanislaw Lem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanislaw-lem/) > [Of the two powers, the two categories that take possession of us when we enter the world (from where?), space is by far the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanislaw-lem/of-the-two-powers-the-two-categories-that-take-possession-of-us-when/) [Stanislaw Lem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanislaw-lem/) > [“What was civilization ever, really, but the attempt by man to talk himself into being good? Only good mind you. The rest had to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanislaw-lem/what-was-civilization-ever-really-but-the-attempt-by-man-to-talk/) [Stanislaw Lem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanislaw-lem/) > [He who has had, has been, but he who hasn't been, has been had.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanislaw-lem/he-who-has-had-has-been-but-he-who-hasn-t-been-has-been-had/) [Stanislaw Lem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanislaw-lem/) > [“We know, but cannot grasp, that above and below, beyond the limits of perception or imagination, thousands of millions of simultaneous transformations are at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanislaw-lem/we-know-but-cannot-grasp-that-above-and-below-beyond-the-limits-of/) [Stanislaw Lem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanislaw-lem/) > [People make filthy things with the freedom they regained.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanislaw-lem/people-make-filthy-things-with-the-freedom-they-regained/) [Stanislaw Lem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanislaw-lem/) > [“Wandering across the vast room, I stopped at a set of shelves as high as the ceiling, and holding about six hundred volumes -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanislaw-lem/wandering-across-the-vast-room-i-stopped-at-a-set-of-shelves-as-high/) [Stanislaw Lem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanislaw-lem/) [Explore all 89 Stanislaw Lem quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanislaw-lem/) ## More Age quotes > [I need a bath." He chuckled. "You smell of smoke, as do I." The duke turned, leaning heavily on his cane. "Jameson, open the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-hawkins/i-need-a-bath-he-chuckled-you-smell-of-smoke-as-do-i-the-duke-turned/) [Karen Hawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-hawkins/) > [While we've youth in our hearts, we can never grow old.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-wendell-holmes-jr/while-we-ve-youth-in-our-hearts-we-can-never-grow-old/) [Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-wendell-holmes-jr/) > [It's easier to change a law than an age-old mentality. Deep down, many prejudices, many hostilities, many fears persist. 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Adulthood is a series of lines crossed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ellen-goodman/age-is-an-accumulation-of-life-and-loss-adulthood-is-a-series-of/) [Ellen Goodman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ellen-goodman/) > [I calculated that if I live up to the age of 80, then I end up using 450 toothbrushes in my life. All that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dia-mirza/i-calculated-that-if-i-live-up-to-the-age-of-80-then-i-end-up-using/) [Dia Mirza](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dia-mirza/) > [Why is wisdom so fair? Why is beauty so wise? 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That was a hard work.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-kaulitz/we-have-started-to-make-music-at-age-seven-that-was-a-hard-work/) [Bill Kaulitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-kaulitz/) [Browse all 18,948 Age quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/age/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Man does not create gods, in spite of appearances. The times, the age, impose them on him. 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