Tertullian Quotes & Sayings

Nature soaks every evil with either fear or shame. — Tertullian

It is a fundamental human right, a privilege of nature, that every man should worship according to his own convictions. One man's religion neither harms nor helps another man. It is assuredly no part of religion to compel religion, to which free will and not force should lead us. — Tertullian

The entire fruit is already present in the seed. — Tertullian

We say, and we say openly, and while ye torture us, mangled and gory we cry out, "We worship God through Christ!" Believe Him a man: it is through Him and in Him that God willeth Himself to be known and worshipped. — Tertullian

Now we allow that life begins with conception, because we contend that the soul also begins from conception; life taking its commencement at the same moment and place that the soul does. — Tertullian

Prayer is the one thing that can conquer God — Tertullian

Discipline is an index to doctrine. — Tertullian

The Word, then, the Christ, is the cause both of our ancient beginning, for lie was in God, and of our well-being. And now this same Word has appeared as man. He alone is both God and man, and the source of all our good things — Tertullian

The blood of the Christians is seed — Tertullian

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. — Tertullian

Truth persuades by teaching, but does not teach by persuading. — Tertullian

Christians are made, not born. — Tertullian

It is certainly no part of religion to compel religion. — Tertullian

God the Father's a deep root; the Son's the shoot that breaks into the world; the Spirit spreads the beauty & fragrance — Tertullian

He has inhibited discussion by designating admonition as the method of dealing with a heretic- and the first method, too, because he is not a Christian. This is so that he would not seem to require correction again and again and before two or three witnesses as though he were a Christian. He ought to be corrected for the very reason that he is not to be disputed with. In addition, this is said because a controversy over the Scriptures can, clearly, produce no other effect than help to upset either the stomach or the brain. — Tertullian

Enoch predicted that "the demons and the spirits of the angelic apostates would turn into idolatry all the elements, all the adornment of the universe, and all things contained in the heaven, the sea, and the earth, that they might be consecrated as God in opposition to God." All things, therefore, does human error worship, except the Founder of all himself. The images of those things are idols; the consecration of the images is idolatry. — Tertullian

Can a man be poor if he is free from want, if he does not covet the belongings of others, if he is rich in the possession of God? Rather, he is poor who possesses much but still craves for more. — Tertullian

It is to believed because it is absurd. — Tertullian

And when will there be an end of marrying? I suppose, when there is an end of living. — Tertullian

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. — Tertullian

Woman is a temple built over a sewer. — Tertullian

The Lord challenges us to suffer persecutions and to confess Him. He wants thiose who belong to him to be brave and fearless. He himself shows how weakness of the flesh is overcome by courage of the Spirit ... A christian is fearless. — Tertullian

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

The Lord's Prayer "is truly the summary of the whole gospel." "Since the Lord ... after handling over the practice of prayer, said elsewhere, 'Ask and you will receive,' and since everyone has petitions which are peculiar to his circumstances, the regular and appropriate prayer (the Lord's Prayer) is said first, as the foundation of further desires. — Tertullian

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

For those women sin against God when they rub their skin with ointments, stain their cheeks with rouge, and make their eyes prominent with antimony. To them, I suppose, the artistic skill of God is displeasing! — Tertullian

Illustrious confessors of Jesus Christ, a Christian finds in prison the same joys as the prophets tasted in the desert. Call it not a dungeon, but a solitude. When the soul is in heaven, the body feels not the weight of fetters; it carries the whole man along with it. — Tertullian

Examine then, and see if He be not the dispenser of kingdoms, who is Lord at once of the world which is ruled, and of man himself who rules; if He have not ordained the changes of dynasties, with their appointed seasons, who was before all time, and made the world a body of times; if the rise and the fall of states are not the work of Him, under whose sovereignty the human race once existed without states at all. — Tertullian

[Hermogenes] despises God's law in his painting, maintains repeated marriages [almost certainly a reference to remarrying after divorce or perhaps even widowhood, which Tertullian, who became a Montanist, opposed], alleges the law of God in defense of lust [likely same reference], and yet despises it in respect of his art. — Tertullian

Whatever is born is the work of God. So whatever is plastered on, is the devil's work ... How unworthy of the Christian name it is to wear a fictitious face - you on whom simplicity in every form is enjoined! You, to whom lying with the tongue is not lawful, are lying in appearance. — Tertullian

See how these Christians love one another. — Tertullian

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

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

You say we worship the sun; so do you. — Tertullian

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

I believe because it is absurd. — Tertullian

Thus the connection of the Father in the Son, and of the Son in the Paraclete, produces three coherent Persons, who are yet distinct One from Another. These three are one [thing], not one [Person], as it is said, 'I and my Father are One,' in respect of unity of substance not singularity of number. — Tertullian

Learn about the incorruptible King, and know his heroes who never inflict slaughter on the peoples. — Tertullian

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

Those who fled will fight another time. — Tertullian

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. — Tertullian

Keep always in mind the rule of faith which I profess and by which I bear witness that the Father and the Son and the Spirit are inseparable from each other, and then you will understand what is meant by it. Observe now that I say the Father is other [distinct], the Son is other, and the Spirit is other. This statement is wrongly understood by every uneducated or perversely disposed individual, as if it meant diversity and implied by that diversity a separation of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — Tertullian

The Christian does not hurt even his enemy. — Tertullian

Daily, every moment, prayer is necessary to men. — Tertullian

Patience is God's nature. — Tertullian

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

Out of the frying pan, into the fire. — Tertullian

If we refuse our homage to statues and frigid images, the very counterpart of their dead originals, with which hawks, and mice, and spiders are so well acquainted, does it not merit praise instead of penalty [Christians were punished for not worshiping Roman gods] that we have rejected what we have come to see is error? We cannot surely be made out to injure those whom we are certain are nonentities. What does not exist is in its nonexistence secure from suffering. — Tertullian

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. — Tertullian

There is strife between God s ways and human ways; damned by you, we are absolved by God. — Tertullian

Prevention of birth is a precipitation of murder. — Tertullian

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

For it is really better for us not to know a thing, because [God] has not revealed it to us, than to know it according to man's wisdom, because he has been bold enough to assume it. — Tertullian

We worship unity in trinity, and trinity in unity; neither confounding the person nor dividing the substance. There is one person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost; but the Godhead of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, is all one; the glory equal, the majesty co-eternal. — Tertullian

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

But all the other frenzies of passions-impious both toward the bodies and toward the sexes-beyond the laws of nature, we banish not only from the threshold, but from all shelter of the Church, because they are not sins, but monstrosities. — Tertullian

Away with the one who is always seeking, for he never finds anything; for he is seeking where nothing can be found. Away with the one who is always knocking, for he knocks where there is no one to open; away with the one who is always asking, for he asks of one who does not hear. — Tertullian

The first reaction to truth is hatred. — Tertullian

It is certain because it is impossible — Tertullian

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

It is absolutely forbidden to repay evil with evil. — Tertullian

We ourselves, though we're guilty of every sin, are not just a work of God: we're image. Yet we have cut ourselves off from our Creator in both soul and body. Did we get eyes to serve lust, the tongue to speak evil, ears to hear evil, a throat for gluttony, a stomach to be gluttony's ally, hands to do violence, genitals for unchaste excesses, feet for an erring life? Was the soul put in the body to think up traps, fraud, and injustice? I don't think so. — Tertullian

Custom without truth is error grown old. — Tertullian

The flesh feeds on the Body and Blood of Christ that the soul may be fattened on God — Tertullian

All the Scriptures give clear proof of the Trinity, and it is from these that our principle is deduced ... the distinction of the Trinity is quite clearly displayed. — Tertullian

Fear is the foundation of safety. — Tertullian

Hope is patience with the lamp lit. — Tertullian

Offerings to propitiate the dead then were regarded as belonging to the class of funeral sacrifices, and these are idolatry. Idolatry, in fact, is a sort of homage to the departed, the one as well as the other is a service to dead men. Moreover, demons dwell in the images of the dead ... this sort of exhibition has passed from honors of the dead to honors of the living; I mean, to quaestorships [financial overseers]and magistractes, to priestly offices of different kinds. Yet, since idolatry still cleaves to the dignity's name, whatever is done in its name partakes of its impurity. — Tertullian

Do you not know that you are Eve? The judgment of God upon this sex lives on in this age; therefore, necessarily the guilt should live on also. You are the gateway of the devil; you are the one who unseals the curse of that tree, and you are the first one to turn your back on the divine law; you are the one who persuaded him whom the devil was not capable of corrupting; you easily destroyed the image of God, Adam. Because of what you deserve, that is, death, even the Son of God had to die. — Tertullian

When we are going to enter the water ... in the presence of the congregation and under the hand of the president, we solemnly profess that we disown the devil, his pomp, and his angels. After this we are immersed three times, making a somewhat larger pledge than the Lord appointed in the Gospel. Then we are taken up [a reference to the Roman tradition of recognizing a newborn baby as a member of the family]. We first taste a mixture of milk and honey and from that day we refrain from the daily bath for a whole week. — Tertullian

In pain shall you bring forth children, woman, and you shall turn to your husband and he shall rule over you. And do you not know that you are Eve? God's sentence hangs still over all your sex and His punishment weighs down upon you. You are the devil's gateway; you are she who first violated the forbidden tree and broke the law of God. It was you who coaxed your way around him whom the devil had not the force to attack. With what ease you shattered that image of God: Man! Because of the death you merited, even the Son of God had to die ... Woman, you are the gate to hell. — Tertullian

Against Him those women sin who torment their skin with potions, stain their cheeks with rouge and extend the line of their eyes with black coloring. Doubtless they are dissatisfied with God's plastic skill. In their own persons they convict and censure the Artificer of all things. — Tertullian

I believe BECAUSE it's impossible. — Tertullian

What is nobler than to tread under foot the gods of the nations, to exorcise evil spirits, to perform cures, to seek divine revelations, and to live to God? These are the pleasures - these are the spectacles - that befit Christian men. — Tertullian

It is certain because it is possible. — Tertullian

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. — Tertullian

In our case, murder being once for all forbidden, we may not destroy even the fetus in the womb, while as yet the human being derives blood from other parts of the body for its sustenance. To hinder birth is merely a speedier man-killing; nor does it matter whether you take away a life that is born, or destroy one that is coming to the birth. That is a man which is going to be one; you have the fruit already in the seed. — Tertullian

The nature of rumor is known to all. — Tertullian

Nothing that is God's is obtainable by money. — Tertullian

He who flees will fight again. — Tertullian

The state of faith allows no mention of impossibility. — Tertullian

It is not permitted for a woman to speak in the church, nor is it permitted for her to teach, nor to baptize, nor to offer [the eucharist], nor to claim for herself a share in any masculine function- not to mention any priestly office. — Tertullian

I owe no duty to the forum, the election ground or the senate; I am ... no barking pleader, no judge, no soldier, no king; I have withdrawn from the populace. My only business is with myself. I have no care save not to care. The better life you would more enjoy in seclusion than in publicity. But you will decry me as indolent ... None is born for another, being destined to die for himself. — Tertullian

See how many men of rank have been delivered from devils and healed of diseases! — Tertullian

How shall I admire, how laugh, how rejoice, how exult, when I behold so many
proud monarchs groaning in the lowest abyss of darkness; so many
magistrates liquefying in fiercer flames than they ever kindled against the
Christians; so many sages philosophers blushing in red-hot fires with their
deluded pupils; so many tragedians more tuneful in the expression of their
own sufferings; so many dancers tripping more nimbly from anguish then
ever before from applause. — Tertullian

It is our care for the helpless, our practice of loving kindness, that brands us in the eyes of those who oppose us. — Tertullian

Patience ornaments the woman and proves the man. — Tertullian

Where our work is, there let our joy be. — Tertullian

Let women paint their eyes with tints of chastity, insert into their ears the word of God, tie the yoke of Christ around their necks, and adorn their whole persons with the silk of sanctity and the damask of devotion. — Tertullian

Shall we carry a flag? It is a rival to Christ. — Tertullian

Woman, thou shouldst ever be clothed in rags and in mourning, appearing only as a penitent, drowned in tears, and expiating thus the sin of having caused the fall of the human race. Woman thou art the gate of the devil. It is thou who hast corrupted those whom Satan dare not attack face to face. — Tertullian

I revere the fullness of His Scripture, in which He manifests to me both the Creator and creation. In the gospel moreover, I discover a Minister and Witness of the Creator, even His Word. — Tertullian

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

There are still preserved among Christians traces of that Holy Spirit that appeared in the form of a dove. They expel evil spirits, perform many cures, and foresee certain events. — Tertullian

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

To forbid birth is only quicker murder. — Tertullian

[T]he Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost [are] three ... not in condition, but in degree; not in substance, but in form; not in power, but in aspect; yet of one substance, and of one condition, and of one power, inasmuch as He is one God, from whom these degrees and forms and aspects are reckoned, under the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. — Tertullian

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

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

A holy woman may be beautiful by the gift of nature, but she must not give occasion to lust. If beauty be hers, so far from setting it off she ought rather to obscure it. — Tertullian