Full Idea
Democritus thought that people imagined gods as responsible for the frightening and awesome things that happen in this world.
Gist of Idea
Democritus said people imagined gods as the source of what awed or frightened them
Source
report of Democritus (fragments/reports [c.431 BCE], A075) by Sextus Empiricus - Against the Professors (six books) 9.24
Book Reference
'The First Philosophers', ed/tr. Waterfield,Robin [OUP 2000], p.187