Lactantius Quotes on God
Lucius Caecilius Firmianus Lactantius was an early Christian Latin author and rhetorician who served as tutor to the son of the emperor Constantine. This page collects quotes attributed to Lactantius on the topic of god, drawn from across the philosopher's works.
Quotes
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Attributed to Lactantius:
“If God did not exist, ethics would be merely human convention.”
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Attributed to Lactantius:
“Religion is the bond between God and human beings.”
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Attributed to Lactantius:
“Wisdom and religion are inseparable; we cannot have one without the other.”
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Attributed to Lactantius:
“The first duty is to know God; the second, to fear him; the third, to love him.”
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“Man only is endowed with wisdom so as to understand religion , and this is the principal if not the only difference betwixt him and dumb animals ; for other things that seem peculiar to him, though they are not the same in them, yet they appear to be alike … What is there more peculiar to man than reason, and foresight? Yet there are animals which make several different ways of retiring from their dens; that when in danger they may escape; which without understanding and forethought they could not do. Others make provision for the future.”
Solus (homo) sapientia instructus est ut religionem solus intellegat, et haec est hominis atque mutorum vel praecipua, vel sola distantia; nam caetera quae videntur hominis esse propria, etsi non sint talia in mutis, tamen similia videri possunt … Quid tam proprium homini quam ratio, et providentia futuri? Atqui sunt animalia, quae latibulis suis diversos, et plures exitus pandant; ut si quod peri