109+ Tertullian Quotes On Trinity, Marriage And Polemical

Tertullian was an early Christian author from the Roman Empire, living in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD. He is known for his fiery rhetoric and for being the first Christian author to write in Latin. He was a major influence on later Christian writers and a key figure in the development of early Christian theology. Following is our collection on famous quotes by Tertullian on trinity, marriage, polemical.

Top 10 Tertullian Quotes

1. 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.
2. The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.
3. Hope is patience with the lamp lit.
4. Arguments about Scripture achieve nothing but a stomachache and a headache.
5. If the Tiber rises too high, or the Nile too low, the remedy is always feeding Christians to the lions.
6. Where our work is, there let our joy be.
7. You can judge the quality of their faith from the way they behave. Discipline is an index to doctrine.
8. You cannot parcel out freedom in pieces because freedom is all or nothing.
9. 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.
10. 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.

Tertullian Image Quotes

Hope is patience with the lamp lit. — Tertullian

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

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

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

Tertullian Short Quotes

• The entire fruit is already present in the seed.
• He who lives only to benefit himself confers on the world a benefit when he dies.
• See how these Christians love one another.
• What has Athens to do with Jerusalem.
• The state of faith allows no mention of impossibility.
• The whole fruit is already present in the seed.
• Nothing that is God's is obtainable by money.
• The first reaction to truth is hatred.
• Indeed heresies are themselves instigated by philosophy
• Out of the frying pan, into the fire.

Tertullian Quotes About Blood

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

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

The blood of Christians is seed. — Tertullian

Tertullian Famous Quotes And Sayings

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

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

Hope is patience with the lamp lit. — Tertullian

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

The Law found more than it lost when Christ said, ‘Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven’ (Matthew 5:44-45). This most important commandment summarizes in a word the universal discipline of patience, since it does not allow us to do evil even to people who deserve it. — Tertullian

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

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

Every soul, then, by reason of its birth, has its nature in Adam until it is born again in Christ; moreover, it is unclean all the while that it remains without this regeneration; and because unclean, it is actively sinful, and suffuses even the flesh (by reason of their conjunction) with its own shame. — 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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. — Tertullian

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

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

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

[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

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

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

Woman is a temple built over a sewer. — Tertullian

To forbid birth is only quicker murder. — 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

Prevention of birth is a precipitation of murder. — Tertullian

Fear is the foundation of safety. — 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

Discipline is an index to doctrine. — Tertullian

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

The nature of rumor is well known to all. It was your own poet who said: 'Rumor, an evil surpassing all evils in speed.' — Tertullian

Let women paint their eyes with tints of chastity. — 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

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

If the sky stands still, if the earth quakes, if there is famine, if there is pestilence, at once the cry is raised: Throw the Christians to the lions! So many to one? — 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

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

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

Those who fled will fight another time. — Tertullian

Christ, in disarming Peter, disarmed every soldier. — 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

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

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

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

He who flees will fight again. — Tertullian

Custom without truth is error grown old. — Tertullian

It is certain because it is impossible. -Certum est quia impossibile — Tertullian

It is to believed because it is absurd. — Tertullian

In our case, murder being once for all forbidden, we may not destroy even the foetus in the womb, while as yet the human being derives blood from other parts of the body for its sustenance. To hinder a birth is merely a speedier mankilling; 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

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

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

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

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

Nature is schoolmistress, the soul the pupil; and whatever one has taught or the other has learned has come from God - the Teacher of the teacher. — Tertullian

Patience is God's nature. — Tertullian

Can we not live without pleasure, who cannot but with pleasure die? — 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

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

It is a fundamental human right, a privilege of nature, that every man should worship according to his own convictions. — Tertullian

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

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

Christians are made, not born. — Tertullian

Patience ornaments the woman and proves the man. — Tertullian

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

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

For what war should we not be fit and eager, even though unequal in numbers, we who are so willing to be slaughtered-if, according to that discipline of ours, it was not more lawful to be slain than to slay? — Tertullian

He is a man, who is to be a man; the fruit is always present in the seed. — 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

Prayer is the one thing that can conquer God — Tertullian

Let the emperor make war on heaven; let him lead heaven captive in his triumph; let him put guards on heaven; let him impose taxes on heaven! He cannot. . . . He gets his sceptre where he first got his humanity; his power where he got the breath of life. — 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

I believe BECAUSE it's impossible. — 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

I believe because it is absurd. — Tertullian

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

The Christian does not hurt even his enemy. — Tertullian

It is certain because it is impossible. — 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

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

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

How many men of rank (to say nothing of common people) have been delivered from devils, and healed of diseases! — Tertullian

The fact is certain because it is impossible. — Tertullian

Life Lessons by Tertullian

1. Tertullian taught that life should be lived with faith and courage, and that the Christian faith should be a source of strength and hope.
2. He also emphasized the importance of humility and self-discipline, and encouraged people to focus on the spiritual aspects of life.
3. Finally, he believed that one should strive to live in accordance with God's will and to use one's talents and abilities to serve others.