--- 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. (tr. by Joanna Kilmartin and Steve Cox)”\" — Stanislaw Lem" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/86c/stanislaw-lem-7367_god_man-does-not-create-gods-in-spite-of-app_199084.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. (tr. by Joanna Kilmartin and Steve Cox)” quote by Stanislaw Lem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/86c/stanislaw-lem-7367_god_man-does-not-create-gods-in-spite-of-app_199084.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/86c/stanislaw-lem-7367_god_man-does-not-create-gods-in-spite-of-app_199084.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/86c/stanislaw-lem-7367_god_man-does-not-create-gods-in-spite-of-app_199084.jpg) > ““Man does not create gods, in spite of appearances. The times, the age, impose them on him. (tr. by Joanna Kilmartin and Steve Cox)”” [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. Humans don’t invent deities; eras shape them for us. **In simple terms:** Epochs impose gods on people. Key Takeaway Question the origins of your beliefs. Themes faith culture history philosophy Mood thoughtful critical Type philosophical literary When to use this quote - religious discourse - political ideology - personal belief systems Key Concepts existentialism social constructivism Questions to Reflect On - What societal forces shape your spiritual views? - Can you separate cultural influence from personal faith? A Different Perspective Belief systems can be resilient to change. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [God](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/god/) [Gods](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gods/) ## 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. Man can serve his age or rebel…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanislaw-lem/man-does-not-create-gods-in-spite-of-appearances-the-times-the-age-2/) [Stanislaw Lem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanislaw-lem/) > [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/) > [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/) > [The "times," "the age" what is that, but a few profound persons and a few active persons who epitomize the times?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/the-times-the-age-what-is-that-but-a-few-profound-persons-and-a-few/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [“But I'm three times your age or more and my brain is worn out and full up. I don't have much room to tuck…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/orson-scott-card/but-i-m-three-times-your-age-or-more-and-my-brain-is-worn-out-and/) [Orson Scott Card](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/orson-scott-card/) > [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/) > [“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/) > [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/) > [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/) > [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/) > [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/) > [ 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/) ## 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. 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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/) > [Man does not create gods, in spite of appearances. The times, the age, impose them on him. Man can serve his age or rebel…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanislaw-lem/man-does-not-create-gods-in-spite-of-appearances-the-times-the-age-2/) [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 God quotes > [I don't drink much anymore, but when I traveled with Frank Sinatra, God rest his soul, I used to drink like I could do…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/don-rickles/i-don-t-drink-much-anymore-but-when-i-traveled-with-frank-sinatra-god/) [Don Rickles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/don-rickles/) > [“God hates Hell. 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There are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-wise/here-s-the-reality-the-image-of-a-white-jesus-has-been-used-to/) [Tim Wise](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-wise/) > [The faster you go, the shorter you are.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-einstein/the-faster-you-go-the-shorter-you-are/) [Albert Einstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-einstein/) > [A lot of people have been saying 'The 100' reminds them of 'Lord Of The Flies,' 'Lost' and 'Battlestar Galactica,' and all of those…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marie-avgeropoulos/a-lot-of-people-have-been-saying-the-100-reminds-them-of-lord-of-the/) [Marie Avgeropoulos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marie-avgeropoulos/) > [As we are coming to the end of the year, I want you to forget about the past, the failure, the negative thoughts or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/as-we-are-coming-to-the-end-of-the-year-i-want-you-to-forget-about/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I wonder: when a Jehovah's Witness dies and goes to Heaven, does God hide behind the door and pretend He's not home?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-celio/i-wonder-when-a-jehovah-s-witness-dies-and-goes-to-heaven-does-god/) [Brian Celio](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-celio/) > [What would God have me do with my life?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ezra-taft-benson/what-would-god-have-me-do-with-my-life/) [Ezra Taft Benson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ezra-taft-benson/) > [God always gets the glory when Jesus comes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louie-giglio/god-always-gets-the-glory-when-jesus-comes/) [Louie Giglio](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louie-giglio/) > [“Do all the good you can, By all the means you can, In all the ways you can, In all the places you can,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/billy-graham/do-all-the-good-you-can-by-all-the-means-you-can-in-all-the-ways-you/) [Billy Graham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/billy-graham/) > [You are a God Act like one!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-leary/you-are-a-god-act-like-one/) [Timothy Leary](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-leary/) [Browse all 37,707 God quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/god/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Man does not create gods, in spite of appearances. 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