Tertullian Quotes

Tertullian presents sharp, witty reflections that attract those who enjoy clever theological debates.

45 quotes

  1. Vide, inquiunt, ut invicem se diligant; ipsi enim invicem oderunt: et ut pro alterutro mori sint parati; ipsi enim ad occidendum alterutrum paratiores erunt.

  2. Plures efficimur, quoties metumur a vobis; semen est sanguis christianorum.

  3. Omnium gentium unus homo, uarium nomen est, una anima, uaria uox, unus spiritus, uarius sonus, propria cuique genti loquella, sed loquellae materia communis.

  4. Veritas autem docendo persuadet non suadendo docet.

  5. Nihil veritas erubescit

  6. Prorsus credibile est, quia ineptum est.

  7. Certum est, quia impossible est.

  8. De calcaria in carbonarium.

  9. Omnia periclitabuntur aliter accipi quam sunt, et amittere quod sunt dum aliter accipiuntur, si aliter quam sunt cognominantur. Fides nominum salus est proprietatum.

  10. Qui fugiebat, rursus sibi proeliabitur.

  11. Nec alii obest aut prodest alterius religio.

  12. Nec religionis est cogere religio

  13. Infirma commendatio est quae de alterius destructione fulcitur.

  14. Itaque et ego vanitatem vanitate depellam.

  15. Cum ergo spiritus Dei descendit, indiuidua patientia comitatur eum.

  16. Quippe res dei ratio quia deus omnium conditor nihil non ratione providit disposuit ordinavit, nihil [enim] non ratione tractari intellegique voluit. [3] Igitur ignorantes quique deum rem quoque eius ignorent necesse est quia nullius omnino thesaurus extraneis patet. Itaque universam vitae conversationem sine gubernaculo rationis transfretantes inminentem saeculo procellam evitare non norunt.

  17. esterni sumus, & vestra omnia implevimus, Vrbes, Insulas, Castella, Municipia, Conciliabula, Castra ipsa, Tribus, Decurias, palatium, Senatum, Forum, sola vobis relinquimus Templa.

  18. This is said with more spirit than truth.

  19. Every word almost was a sentence; every sentence a victory.

  20. Arguments about Scripture achieve nothing but a stomachache and a headache.

  21. He who lives only to benefit himself confers on the world a benefit when he dies.

  22. Hope is patience with the lamp lit.

  23. Nothing that is God's is obtainable by money.

  24. You can judge the quality of their faith from the way they behave. Discipline is an index to doctrine.

  25. You cannot parcel out freedom in pieces because freedom is all or nothing.

  26. The soul whose bosom lust did never touch Is God's fair bride; and maiden's souls are such.

  27. You can't undo anything you've already done, but you can face up to it. You can tell the truth. You can seek forgiveness. And then let God do the rest.

  28. Indeed it is better to postpone, lest either we complete too little by hurrying, or wander too long in completing it.

  29. A man becomes a Christian, he is not born one.

  30. But now inquiry is being made concerning these issues. First, can any believer enlist in the military? Second, can any soldier, even those of the rank and file or lesser grades who neither engage in pagan sacrifices nor capital punishment, be admitted into the church? No on both counts.

  31. Let women paint their eyes with tints of chastity.

  32. The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.

  33. It is certainly no part of religion to compel religion.

  34. Now then, you dogs, whom the apostle puts outside and who yelp at the God of truth, let us come to your various questions.

  35. What has Athens to do with Jerusalem.

  36. Prevention of birth is premature murder, and it makes no difference whether it is a life already born that one snatches away or a life that is coming to birth.

  37. Divorce these days is a religious vow, as if the proper offspring of marriage.

  38. It is not consistent with truth that a man should sacrifice half of his stomach only to God-that he should be sober in drinking, but intemperate in eating. Your belly is your God, your liver is your temple, your paunch is your altar, the cook is your priest, and the fat steam is your Holy Spirit; the seasonings and the sauces are your chrisms, and your belchings are your prophesizing...[such] a grossly- feeding Christian is akin to lions and wolves rather than God. Our Lord Jesus called Himself Truth and not habit.

  39. Two kinds of blindness are easily combined so that those who do not see really appear to see what is not.

  40. I believe because it is absurd.

  41. Prayer cleanses from sin, drives away temptations, stamps out persecutions, comforts the fainthearted, gives new strength to the courageous, brings travellers safely home, calms the waves, confounds robbers, feeds the poor, overrules the rich, lifts up the fallen, supports those who are falling, sustains those who stand firm.

  42. If the Tiber rises too high, or the Nile too low, the remedy is always feeding Christians to the lions.

  43. The angels as the guardians of men are set over men as instructors and monitors. This shows the relationship that is to exist between them. Man's attitude is to be one of obedience and subjection. He is to follow the lead of the angels, and consequently some reverence is already implied in the very relationship that exists between man and angel.

  44. The Son of God died; it is by all means to be believed because it is absurd. And he was buried and rose again; the fact is certain, because it is impossible.

  45. Men remain in ignorance as long as they hate, and they hate unjustly as long as they remain in ignorance.