‘those that are the most ignorant think they know the most’ – Clement of Alexandria, church father, Extracts from the Prophets 35 (AD 190s)
‘there is no endurance without manliness, nor the exercise of self-restraint without temperance’ – Clement of Alexandria, seminary dean and church father, (AD 190s) Stromata 2.18
‘A rich man is a difficult thing to find in the house of God; and if such a one is found there, it is difficult to find such unmarried’ – Tertullian, African church father, To His Wife 2.6 (between AD 198 and 206)
‘It is better for a man to be silent and be a Christian, than to talk and not be one. It is good to teach, if he who speaks also acts’ – Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, martyred AD 107, Letter to the Ephesians 15
‘the millstones of God grind to a fine powder, though after some delay’ – Christian insertion into the Sibylline Oracles 8.14 (2d to 3rd century AD)
‘whoever is not passionately fond of the life of this world is a stranger in this world’ – Origen, Bible scholar and preacher, Commentary on Psalms 26 to 150 (between AD 230 and 251)
‘Struggle in adversity is the trial of truth.’ – Cyprian, pastor-bishop of Carthage and church father, On the Mortality 36 (AD 252)
‘there is no more pleasant food for the soul than the knowledge of truth’ – Lactantius, teacher and church father, Divine Institutes 1.1 (between AD 304 and 314)
‘every one is naturally inclined to vices.’ – Lactantius, teacher and church father, Divine Institutes 3.17 (between AD 304 and 314)
