Tertullian

Roman Author

Born: 160

Died: 225


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

Christians are made, not born.

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

Fear is the foundation of safety.

He who flees will fight again.

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

Hope is patience with the lamp lit.

Indeed heresies are themselves instigated by philosophy.

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

It is certain because it is impossible.

It is certain because it is possible.

Nature soaks every evil with either fear or shame.

Nothing that is God's is obtainable by money.

Out of the frying pan, into the fire.

Prevention of birth is a precipitation of murder.

See how these Christians love one another.

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

The entire fruit is already present in the seed.

The first reaction to truth is hatred.

The more you mow us down, the more numerous we grow; the blood of Christians is seed.

The nature of rumor is known to all.

The pleasure of those who injure you lies in your pain. Therefore they will suffer if you take away their pleasure by not feeling pain.

The usual complaint is, 'I have no other way of earning a living.' The harsh reply can be, 'Do you have to live?'

Truth engenders hatred of truth. As soon as it appears, it is the enemy.

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

What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?

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

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