Quotessence
Home / Authors / Gregory of Nazianzus
Gregory of Nazianzus

Gregory of Nazianzus Quotes

Saint

Filter quotes by topic

AllChristianOrthodoxOrthodox ChristianIfsCfsGivingMayEarthMadeSin

Famous Gregory of Nazianzus Quotes

“No one has yet discovered or ever shall discover what God is in His nature and essence... we shall, in time to come, 'know as we are known' (I Cor 13:12). But for the present what reaches us is a scant emanation, as it were a small beam from a great light - which means that any one who 'knew' God or whose 'knowledge' of Him has been attested to in the Bible, has a manifestly more brilliant knowledge than others not equally illuminated. This superiority was reckoned knowledge in the full sense, not because it really was so, but by the contrast of relative strengths.”

KnowsMeanHas BeensLightChristianKnownEssenceBrilliantOrthodoxRelativeContrastSuperiorityBeam
Author:Gregory of Nazianzus
Create image

“...though every thinking being longs for God, the First Cause, it is powerless... to grasp Him. Tired with the yearning it chafes at the bit and, careless of the cost, it tries a second tack. Either it looks at things visible and makes of these a god - a gross mistake, for what visible thing is more sublime, more godlike, than its observer... - or else it discovers God through the beauty and order of things seen, using sight as a guide to what transcends sight without losing God through the grandeur of what it sees.”

ThinkingTryingFirstsLooksChristianOrderCausesBitsMistakeCostLosingSightTiredGuidesVisibleOrthodoxYearningSublimePowerlessObserversGrossCarelessGrandeurOrthodox ChristianGodlike
Author:Gregory of Nazianzus
Create image

“No one seeing a beautifully elaborated lyre with its harmonious, orderly arrangement, and hearing the lyre's music will fail to form a notion of its craftsman-player, to recur to him in thought though ignorant of him by sight. In this way the creative power, which moves and safeguards its objects, is clear to us, though it be not grasped by the understanding. Anyone who refuses to progress this far in following instinctive proofs must be wanting in judgment. But still, whatever we imagined or figured to ourselves or reason delineated is not the reality of God.”

WayStillsReasonRealityChristianMovingFormUnderstandingCreativeClearPlayerProgressFailingSeeingObjectsJudgmentSightNotionFollowingRefuseHearingProofIgnorantOrthodoxArrangementsOrthodox ChristianHarmoniousOrderlyCraftsmanCreative Power
Author:Gregory of Nazianzus
Create image

“Who should listen to discussions of theology? Those for whom it is a serious undertaking, not just another subject like any other for entertaining small-talk, after the races, the theater, songs, food, and sex: for there are people who count chatter on theology and clever deployment of arguments as one of their amusements.”

PeopleShouldChristianSongSexRaceSubjectsSeriousArgumentTheaterCleverTheologyDiscussionOrthodoxEntertainingAmusementOrthodox ChristianUndertakingsChatterDeploymentSmall Talk
Author:Gregory of Nazianzus
Create image

“What is the right time [to discuss theology]? Whenever we are free from the mire and noise without, and our commanding faculty is not confused by illusory, wandering images, leading us, as it were, to mix fine script with ugly scrawling, or sweet-smelling scent with slime. We need actually 'to be still' (Ps. 46:10) in order to know God, and when we receive the opportunity, 'to judge uprightly' (Ps. 75:2) in theology.”

KnowsNeedsStillsChristianOrderOpportunitySweetJudgingFineScriptsUglyTheologyNoiseWanderConfusedOrthodoxFacultyScentRight TimeKnowing GodIllusorySlime
Author:Gregory of Nazianzus
Create image