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Said in the 400s
“That anyone could doubt the right of the holy Virgin to be called the Mother of God fills me with astonishment. Surely she must be the Mother of God if our Lord Jesus Christ is God, and she gave birth to him! Our Lord’s disciples may not have used those exact words, but they delivered to us the belief those words enshrine, and this has also been taught us by the holy fathers.”
Cyril of Alexandria (376–444) said by 444 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in 5 Inspiring quotes from St. Cyril of Alexandria (June 27, 2017)
“If we listen to those who like to record antiquities, we shall find them attributing this theorem to Pythagoras and saying that he sacrificed an ox on its discovery. For my part, though I marvel at those who first noted the truth of this theorem, I admire more the author of the Elements for the very lucid proof by which he made it fast.”
Proclus (412–485) said by 485 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The fifth century mathematician Proclus quoted in (Morrow 1970: 337). Morrow, Glenn R. Proclus, A Commentary on the First Book of Euclid's Elements: Translated, with Introduction and Notes. Princeton University Press, 1…
“God, at the beginning, created two human beings, from whom the whole multitude of the human race has descended; and thus it is not the equity of nature, but the ambition of evil desire, which has given rise to worldly nobility.”
Sulpicius Severus (360–420) said by 420 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Be like the master sailors piloting their ships as you watch the wind to see what direction it is taking you, whether it is a good wind or bad that is coming.”
Paul of Tammah (301–415) said by 415 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
“For what fortress, what city, in the wide extent of the Roman empire, can hope to exist, secure and impregnable, if it is our pleasure that it should be erased from the earth?”
Attila (500–453) said by 453 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted by Edward Gibbon (1781), The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Vol. III, chapter 34
“Slaves no doubt, but still men.”
Ambrosius Theodosius Macrobius (370–430) said by 430 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Avianus can scarcely be called a poet. His tasteless, strained, imprecise Latin, with its constant inappropriate Virgilian reminiscences, might have been written by a nineteenth-century public schoolboy.”
Avianus (400–401) said by 401 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Robert Browning, "The Fables of Avianus [Review of Avianus, Fabulae, by A. Guaglianone"], The Classical Review, vol. 10, no. 1 (1960), p. 42
“I do not mind if my cottage is rather small So long as there's room enough for bed and mat. Often and often the neighbours come to see me And with brave words discuss the things of old. Rare writings we read together and praise: Doubtful meanings we examine together and settle.”
Tao Yuanming (365–427) said by 427 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I would say that the desert deserves to be called a temple of our God without walls. Since it is clear that God dwells in silence, we must believe that he loves the solitary expanses of the desert. ... Although God is present everywhere, and regards the whole world as his domain, we may believe that his preferred place is the solitudes of heaven and of the desert.”
Eucherius of Lyon (380–449) said by 449 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Wrath that is nursed in the heart, although it may not injure men who stand by, yet excludes the splendour of the radiance of the Holy Ghost, equally with wrath that is openly manifested.”
John Cassian (360–435) said by 435 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Minuit praesentia famam.”
Claudian (370–404) said by 404 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Wrongly attributed to Virgil in an "undoubtedly spurious Italian epistle sometimes printed in [Dante's] works". (Edward Moore, Studies in Dante [1896], footnote on p. 240.)
Also quoted by: Virgil (misattributed)
“The fact that the stars predict high or low rank for the father of the person whose horoscope is taken, teaches that they do not always make things happen but sometimes only indicate things. For how could things which preceded the birth depend upon the birth?”
Sallustius (400–400) said by 400 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Because Satan knows that he seduced the first man through a woman and led all human beings away from the bliss of paradise thanks to the credulity of women, he continues to pursue your sex with even greater cunning.”
Pope Leo I (390–461) said by 461 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A second time, after many years, I was taken captive. On the first night I accordingly remained with my captors, but I heard a divine prophecy, saying to me: 'You shall be with them for two months. So it happened. On the sixtieth night the Lord delivered me from their hands.”
Saint Patrick (385–461) said by 461 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Orthodox: You should accept no argument that is not fully supported by Scriptural testimony.”
Theodoret (393–466) said by 466 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Eranistes of the Polymorph, Dialogue I, The Immutable. Note: The above is the corrected translation and arrangement between Eranistes and Orthodox as found in Migne, PL 83, cols. 46-48, in which the words of Eranistes a…
“(Jesus) Victim of his priesthood and priest of his victim..”
Paulinus of Nola (354–431) said by 431 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A brother visited Abba Elijah who was living in hesychia at the coenobion of the cave of Abba Zabba and he said to him: “Abba, tell me a saying.” The elder said to the brother: “In the days of our fathers these three virtues were cherished: indifference to possessions, meekness, and continence. Now cupidity, gluttony, and arrogance hold monks in prey. Hold fast to which you will.”
Elias the Hermit (400–400) said by 400 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We gaze up at the same stars; the sky covers us all; the same universe encompasses us. What does it matter what practical system we adopt in our search for the truth? The heart of so great a mystery cannot be reached by following one road only.”
Quintus Aurelius Symmachus (345–402) said by 402 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“But it isn’t just a matter of faith, but of faith and works. Each is necessary. For the demons also believe — you heard the apostle — and tremble (Jas 2:19); but their believing doesn’t do them any good. Faith alone is not enough, unless works too are joined to it: Faith working through love (Gal 5:6), says the apostle.”
Augustine of Hippo (354–430) said by 430 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“that sectors in equal circles are to one another as the angles on which they stand has been proved by me in my edition of the Elements...”
Theon of Alexandria (335–400) said by 400 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: in : C. K. Raju. Cultural Foundations of Mathematics: The Nature of Mathematical Proof and the Transmission of the Calculus from India to Europe. Pearson Education India, 2007
“If you ask an old man about a “thought,” freely disclose the “thought” to him if you know that he is worthy of confidence and that he will keep confidential what you have said to him.”
Isaiah the Solitary (died 492) said by 492 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“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
“This is that holy Church which is without spot or wrinkle. For many others have gathered together Churches, as Marcion, and Valentinus, and Ebion, and Manichæus, and Arius, and all the other heretics. ... But of this Church which keeps the faith of Christ entire, hear what the Holy Spirit says in the Canticles, "My dove is one; the perfect one of her mother is one.”
Tyrannius Rufinus (345–411) said by 411 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source