Full Idea
If there are no gods or if they care nothing for human affairs, why should we bother to deceive them?
Gist of Idea
If the gods are non-existent or indifferent, why bother to deceive them?
Source
Plato (The Republic [c.371 BCE], 365d)
Book Reference
Plato: 'Republic', ed/tr. Waterfield,Robin [OUP 1993], p.54
A Reaction
There is incipient deism here, as well as atheism.