Famous quotes
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Said in the 400s
“Truly the lion leaves the desert and erases his pawprints with his tail. If he prevails over the person who has come out to [hunt] him, he goes up in complete confidence. Now then, you who are poor, you shall look boldly upon your enemies like the roaring lions.”
Paul of Tammah (301–415) said by 415 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The athlete does not win when he undresses, because he puts down his clothes precisely to begin fighting, while he is worthy of being crowned winner only after he has fought properly.”
Paulinus of Nola (354–431) said by 431 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Dis proximus ille est, quem ratio non ira movet.”
Claudian (370–404) said by 404 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Nisi credideritis, non intelligetis.”
Aurelius Augustinus (354–430) said by 430 at the latest wikiquote:la, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“No one can love God consciously in his heart unless he has first feared Him with all his heart. Through the action of fear the soul is purified and, as it were, made malleable and so it becomes awakened to the action of love.”
Diadochos of Photiki (400–486) said by 486 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My name is Onnophrius, and for sixty years I have lived in this solitary place and desert. I walk in the mountains like the wild beasts, and I live on the plants and trees, and I have not seen anyone I know.”
Onuphrius (320–400) said by 400 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is inevitable that the mind which does not have a place to turn to or any stable base will undergo change from hour to hour and from minute to minute due to the variety of its distractions, and by the things that come to it from outside it will be continually transformed into whatever occurs to it at any given moment.”
John Cassian (360–435) said by 435 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If you do your manual labor, do not be negligent, but apply yourself with the fear of God, in order not to sin by ignorance.”
Isaiah the Solitary (died 492) said by 492 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Unique testi nec Catoni creditum est" (Adversus Rufinum 2,24)”
Hieronymus (345–420) said by 420 at the latest wikiquote:la, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Boni duces publico certamine numquam nisi ex occasione aut nimia necessitate confligunt.”
Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus (400–450) said by 450 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“qui postea, cum in Etruriam primo uere transiret, in summo Appennino tempestate correptus, biduo continuo inmobiliter cum exercitu niuibus conclusus et onustus obriguit. ubi magnus hominum numerus, iumenta conplurima, elephanti paene omnes frigoris acerbitate perierunt.”
Orosius (385–418) said by 418 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 14.9 (tr. I. W. Raymond, 1936)
“Est hominum sors ista, magis felicibus ut mors sit cita, cum miseris vita diurna negat.”
Avianus (400–401) said by 401 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[The dignity of Peter the Apostle] does not fail in the person of an unworthy heir.”
Pope Leo I (390–461) said by 461 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Sermon 2, on the anniversary of his elevation, quoted by Pope Pius IX in Praedecessores Nostros, paragraph 3, encyclical letter issued on 24 March 1847
“So concludes the Aithiopika, the story of Theagenes and Charikleia, the work of a Phoenician from the city of Emesa, one of the clan of Descendants of the Sun, Theodosios’s son, Heliodoros.”
Heliodorus of Emesa (250–400) said by 400 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Abba Isidore of Pelusium used to say: “A life without a word is more advantageous than a word without life; for the first, even in silence, is advantageous, while the second is a trouble-maker when it cries out, whereas if life and word run together they constitute the portrait of all philosophy.”
Isidore of Pelusium (370–440) said by 440 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When the same Abba Theophilus, the archbishop, was at the point of death, he said: “Blessed are you, Abba Arsenius, for you were ever mindful of this hour.”
Theophilus I of Alexandria (died 412) said by 412 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The mathematician speculates the causes of a certain sensible effect, without considering its actual existence; for the contemplation of universals excludes the knowledge of particulars; and he whose intellectual eye is fixed on that which is general and comprehensive, will think but little of that which is sensible and singular.”
Proclus (412–485) said by 485 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Quid me, etsi valeam, parare carmen Fescenninicolae iubes Diones inter crinigeras situm catervas et Germanica verba sustinentem, laudantem tetrico subinde vultu quod Burgundio cantat esculentus infundens acido comam butyro?”
Sidonius Apollinaris (430–489) said by 489 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The dogma of the Christian religion must follow these laws. It progresses, consolidating over the years, developing over time, deepening with age. It is necessary, however, that it always remains absolutely intact and unchanged.”
Vincent of Lérins (500–450) said by 450 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Slaves no doubt, but still men.”
Ambrosius Theodosius Macrobius (370–430) said by 430 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The person who rehearses the Creed, making the sign of the cross upon his forehead, while he says the word, that each believer may know that his flesh, if he have kept it clean from sin, will be a vessel of honour, useful to the Lord, prepared for every good work; but, if defiled by sins, that it will be a vessel of wrath destined to destruction.”
Tyrannius Rufinus (345–411) said by 411 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The same Amma Theodora also said: “A devout person was once reviled by somebody and he said to him: ‘I too could have said the same to you but the law of God closes my mouth.’” She used to say this too: “A Christian having a discussion with a Manichaean about the body spoke thus: ‘Impose the law on the body and you shall see that the body [belongs] to the Creator.’”
Theodora of Alexandria (500–490) said by 490 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“She also said: “Just as it is not possible to be at once both plant and seed, so is it impossible for us to produce heavenly fruit with earthly glory lying all around us.”
Syncletica of Alexandria (320–460) said by 460 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Virtue cannot be separated into male and female. ... The difference is one of bodies not of souls.”
Theodoret (393–466) said by 466 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: as cited in The First Thousand Years: A Global History of Christianity (2012), p. 106.