Full Idea
To suppose that lakes and rivers, and whatsoever else is of a nature to be useful to us, are gods surpasses the height of lunacy.
Gist of Idea
It is mad to think that what is useful to us, like lakes and rivers, are gods
Source
Sextus Empiricus (Against the Physicists (two books) [c.180], I.040)
Book Reference
Sextus Empiricus: 'Against the Physicists/Against the Ethicists', ed/tr. Bury,R.G. [Harvard Loeb 1997], p.23
A Reaction
He also points out the what is useful to us decays and changes. Sextus lived in a time when monotheism was becoming dominant.