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Constantine Quotes

Browse 57 quotes about Constantine.

Constantine Quotes

“Dolphins... Yeah, dolphins... A lot of people like dogs, cats, and - for some reason I've never been able to fathim - even snakes and toads. But dolphins? Everybody, and I mean EVERYBODY loves bloody dolphins. Don't they? Goes way back, to the ancient Greeks, when shipwrecked sailors would wash up on beaches yammering out crazy stories of how they was staring down a watery grave, when out of nowhere, flipper shows up and pushes them safely back to the shore. Heartarming - and say what you will about aquatic mammal public relations, but that was one ispired move, because here we are two thousand years later and everybody still loves them bloody dolphins. What you don't hear are the other stories, the ones where flipper's watching poor Artemides doggy paddling away and inhaling the warm, salty waters of the Adriatic... and flipper things, "Yeah, sure I could save him, but sod that for a can of sardines" and instead of pushing Artemides back to shore, flipper pushes the poor sod out to sea... in the immortal words of Sir Johnny of the Cash, "Just to watch him die..." See, moral is, if you're gonna be a bastard, be like a dolphin - think big picture, protect your image and above all, leave no trace. Because in the bloodshot, bleary eyes of the world, once you're a bastard, you're always a bastard.”

DolphinsConstantineHellblazerJohn Constantine
Book:The Hellblazer #3
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“For centuries after obtaining power during the reign of Constantine, Christians went on a censorship rampage that led to the virtual illiteracy of the ancient Western world and ensured that their secret would be hidden from the masses. The scholars of other schools/sects evidently did not easily give up their arguments against the historicizing of a very ancient mythological creature. We have lost the exact arguments of these learned dissenters because Christians destroyed any traces of their works. Nonetheless, the Christians preserved the contentions of their detractors through their own refutations. For example, early Church Father Tertullian (c. 160-220 CE), an 'ex-Pagan' and a presbyter at Carthage, ironically admitted the true origins of the Christ story and other such myths by stating in refutation of his critics, 'You say we worship the sun; so do you. Interestingly, a previously strident believer and defender of the faith, Tertullian later renounced orthodox Christianity after becoming a Montanist.”

HistoryDestructionOrthodoxConstantineChristian ApologeticsHistorical JesusCarthageHistoricity Of JesusEpistlesTertullianHistoricity Of The New TestamentBible ContradictionsBiblical ContradictionsMontanist
Book:The Origins of Christianity and the Quest for the Historical Jesus Christ
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“In the 300 years of the crucifixion of Christ to the conversion of Emperor Constantine, polytheistic Roman emperors initiated no more than four general persecutions of Christians. Local administrators and governors incited some anti-Christian violence of their own. Still, if we combine all the victims of all these persecutions, it turns out that in these three centuries the polytheistic Romans killed no more than a few thousand Christians. In contrast, over the course, of the next 1,500 years, Christians slaughtered Christians by the millions, to defend slightly different interpretations of the religion of love and compassion.”

ReligionChristChristianityPersecutionChristiansConstantineRomansEmperors
Book:קיצור תולדות האנושות
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“But how do you know He *doesn't* want us to have it—the cross, I mean? I bet He’s just waiting for one of us to go and find it—just at this moment when it’s most needed. Just at this moment when everyone is forgetting it and chattering about the hypostatic union, there’s a solid chunk of wood waiting for them to have their silly heads knocked against. I’m going off to find it,”

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Book:Helena
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“Too often scholars have thought and even suggested that what happened during and after Constantine was that the church sought to replace the pagan temples, priests, and sacrifices with their own. This is at best a half truth. If this had been primarily what was going on, we would have expected to find priestesses showing up in the mainstream church in and after the time of Constantine, since there were certainly priestesses in the pagan temples. But this we do not find in the historical record. This is because the church of that period was not merely trying to supplant pagan religion with Christian religion, though some of that was going on. More to the point, there was a rising tide of anti-Judaism, and one of its manifestations was this Old Testament hermeneutic. The Torah had been claimed as the church’s book, Jews were being ostracized and then later ghettoized, and a hermeneutic of ministry was being adopted which co-opted the Old Testament for church use when it came to priests, temples, and sacrifices, and indeed sacraments in general. Thus ironically enough while the structure of the ecclesial church was becoming more Old Testamental, the church hierarchy was not only becoming less tolerant of Jews, it was forgetting altogether the Jewish character of Jesus’ ministry and his modifications of the Passover that led to the Lord’s Supper celebration of the early church in the first place.”

ChristianityOld TestamentPriesthoodHermeneuticsConstantineLord S Super
Book:Making a Meal of It: Rethinking the Theology of the Lord's Supper
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“Even if three centuries of outsider status and intermittent persecution had tested the endurance of individuals and communities, coping with the patronage of a newly Christian emperor posed a challenge. The challenge was all the more threatening for its moral complexity. Was it right for the churches to accept the Emperor's favour, knowing full well that if they did so, they also tacitly accepted his right, so evident in all other aspects of life in the Roman Empire, to call the shots?”

Church And StateConstantineEarly Christianity
Book:Band of Angels: The Forgotten World of Early Christian Women
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“Всяка сутрин, докато не те погребат мъртва в земята, ще трябва да взимаш това решение. — Константин седеше толкова близо, че виждах черните й венци. — Трябва да се запиташ: „Да вярвам ли на онова, което глупаците казаха днес за мен?”

ConstantineKathryn StockettSkeeter
Book:The Help
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“Constantine wanted to establish a world or universal religion, with himself at the head. During this council, he declared his divinity by stating that the God of Christians was his personal sponsor. He then replaced certain Christian religious practices of the time with familiar Roman Empire practices of sun worship along with other Pagan teachings from Syria and Persia.”

Roman EmpireConstantineEarly ChristianitySun WorshipUniversal Religion
Book:Alien Parasites: 40 Gnostic Truths to Defeat the Archon Invasion!
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“The Emperor Constantine, who lifted Christianity into power, murdered his wife Fausta, and his eldest son Crispus, the same year that he convened the Council of Nice to decide whether Jesus Christ was a man or the Son of God. The council decided that Christ was consubstantial with the father. This was in the year 325. We are thus indebted to a wife-murderer for settling the vexed question of the divinity of the Savior.”

MenYearsReligionFatherJesusChristChristianityNiceWifeSonJesus ChristDecidedCorruptionSettlingDivinitySaviorMurdererCouncilEmperorIndebtedEldestConstantineEldest SonEmperor Constantine
Book:The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll
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“It took time for the church to come to terms with the ignominy of the cross. Church fathers forbade its depiction in art until the reign of the Roman emperor Constantine.... Now, though, the symbol is everywhere: artists beat gold into the shape of the Roman execution device, baseball players cross themselves before batting, and cancy confectioners even make chocolate crosses for the faithful to eat during Holy Week. Strange as it may seem, Christianity has become a religion of the cross--the gallows, the electric chair, the gas chamber, in modern terms.”

MayArtSeemsArtistFatherTermChurchChristianityPlayerWeekModernStrangeHolyShapesBeatsCrossesGoldBaseballSymbolsFaithfulGasChairsDevicesChocolateExecutionElectricReignChamberEmperorBaseball PlayerBattingDepictionGallowsConstantineGas ChambersElectric ChairChurch FathersIgnominyRoman EmperorHoly WeekEmperor Constantine
Author:Philip Yancey
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“The Berbers, among whom even today one finds light skins and blue eyes, do not go back to the Vandal invasions of the fifth century A.D., but to the prehistoric Atlantic Nordic human wave. The Kabyle huntsmen, for example, are to no small degree still wholly Nordic (thus the blond Berbers in the region of Constantine form 10 % of the population; at Djebel Sheshor they are even more numerous).”

HumansStillsLightEyeTodayFormCenturyExampleDegreesSkinsBlueWavePopulationRegionsFifthInvasionBlue EyesPrehistoricConstantineNordicVandals
Author:Alfred Rosenberg
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“Turn the anger of the Almighty against the godless Turks and Barbarians who despise Christ the Lord.....In the royal city of the east, they have slain the successor of Constantine and his people, desecrated the temples of the Lord, defiled the noble church of Justinian with their Mohometan abominations. Each success, will only be a stepping stone until he has mastered all the Western Monarchs, overthrow the Christian Faith, and imposed the law of his false prophet on the whole world”

PeopleWorldWholeChristianLawTurnsChristChurchCitiesLordStonesWesternEastNobleWhole WorldProphetTemplesDespiseAlmightyRoyalChristian FaithBarbariansMonarchsStepping StonesSuccessorsAbominationConstantineFalse ProphetsJustinian
Author:Pope Pius II
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“Constantine, the Emperor, saw something in the religion of Christ's people which awakened his interest, and now we see him uniting religion to the state and marching up the marble steps of the Emperor's palace, with the church robed in purple. Thus and there was begun the most baneful misalliance that ever fettered and cursed a suffering world... When ... Constantine crowned the union of church and state, the church was stamped with the spirit of the Caesars.”

PeopleWorldStatesSpiritSufferingInterestChristChurchStepsSawsAtheismUnionsPurplePalacesChurch And StateAwakenedEmperorMarbleCursedUnitingConstantine
Author:George W Truett
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“Nothing but the cross of Christ can so startle the spiritual nature from its torpor, as to make it an effectual counterpoise to the debasing and sensual tendencies of the race. Favored by temperament and education, individuals may measurably escape; but if the race is to triumph in the conflict between the flesh and the spirit, between the lower propensities and the higher nature, they must, as Constantine is said to have done, see the cross, and on it the motto, "In hoc signo vinces." By this sign we conquer.”

IfsMaySaidDoneSpiritualSpiritIndividualChristRaceHigherConflictCrossesFleshTendenciesSensualConquerTriumphMottoTemperamentPropensitySpiritual NatureConstantine
Book:BACCALAUREATE SERMONS, AND OCCASIONAL DISCOURSES
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“But the severe rules of discipline which the prudence of the bishops had instituted were relaxed by the same prudence in favour of an Imperial proselyte, whom it was so important to allure, by every gentle condescension, into the pale of the church; and Constantine was permitted, at least by a tacit dispensation, to enjoy most of the privileges, before he had contracted any of the obligations, of a Christian.”

ImportantChristianEnjoyChurchHistoryDisciplinePrivilegeObligationGentlePaleSevereFavourRelaxedPrudenceBishopsRoman EmpireAllureCondescensionTacitConstantine
Book:Guizot's Gibbon: History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
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“An absolute monarch, who is rich without patrimony, may be charitable without merit; and Constantine too easily believed that he should purchase the favour of Heaven if he maintained the idle at the expense of the industrious, and distributed among the saints the wealth of the republic.”

IfsShouldMayHeavenWealthHistoryRichAbsolutesSaintMeritExpensesRepublicIdleFavourRoman EmpireCharitableMonarchsIndustriousConstantinePatrimony
Book:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
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“The grateful applause of the clergy has consecrated the memory of a prince, who indulged their passions and promoted their interest. Constantine gave them security, wealth, honours, and revenge; and the support of the orthodox faith was considered as the most sacred and important duty of the civil magistrate. The edict of Milan, the great charter of toleration, had confirmed to each individual of the Roman world the privilege of choosing and professing his own religion.”

WorldImportantPassionIndividualInterestMemoriesWealthHistorySupportSecurityDutyGratefulSacredPrivilegeRevengeOrthodoxHonourApplauseRoman EmpireClergyCharterTolerationMagistratesMilanConstantine
Book:History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
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“But this inestimable privilege was soon violated: with the knowledge of truth the emperor imbibed the maxims of persecution; and the sects which dissented from the catholic church were afflicted and oppressed by the triumph of Christianity. Constantine easily believed that the heretics, who presumed to dispute his opinions or to oppose his commands, were guilty of the most absurd and criminal obstinacy; and that a seasonable application of moderate severities might save those unhappy men from the danger of an everlasting condemnation.”

MenMightChurchChristianityOpinionHistoryDangerCatholicPrivilegeCriminalsUnhappyAbsurdCommandGuiltyTriumphApplicationOppressedPersecutionEverlastingMaximsDisputesModeratesCatholic ChurchEmperorCondemnationSectsRoman EmpireHereticSeverityObstinacyConstantine
Book:The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
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“Julian sincerely abhorred the system of oriental despotism which Diocletian, Constantine, and the patient habits of four score years, had established in the empire. A motive of superstition prevented the execution of the design which Julian had frequently meditated, of relieving his head from the weight of a costly diadem; but he absolutely refused the title of Dominus or Lord, a word which was grown so familiar to the ears of the Romans, that they no longer remembered its servile and humiliating origin.”

YearsLordHistoryFourDesignHabitEarsWeightPatientFamiliarTitlesRememberedMotiveScoreEmpiresSuperstitionsExecutionSincerelyDespotismRoman EmpireHumiliatingConstantine
Book:The Modern Library Essential World History 4-Book Bundle: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Abridged); Montcalm and Wolfe; History of the Conquest of Mexico; The Naval War of 1812
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“Judged by the stark, sure-footed portrait in Hard Time, Brian Azzarello and Richard Corben clearly have John Constantine down, cold and to the life. Azzarellos grasp of pacing, character and situation resonates through every scene with a black crystal clarity thats short of masterful, while Corben contributes what is, perhaps, one of the most darkly expressive pieces in a long, already-legendary career.”

LongHardCharacterBlackSituationCareersPiecesColdSceneClarityHard TimesJudgedPortraitsCrystalsStarksExpressiveLegendaryBrianPacingConstantine
Author:Alan Moore
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“In 325 A.D., the Roman Emperor Constantine decided to unify Rome under a single religion ... Historians still marvel at the brilliance with which Constantine converted the sun-worshipping pagans to Christianity. By fusing pagan symbols, dates, and rituals into the growing Christian tradition, he created a kind of hybrid religion that was acceptable to both parties.”

KindStillsChristianPartyChristianitySunGrowingTraditionDecidedSymbolsRitualHistorianRomeAcceptableBrillianceEmperorPaganismPaganHybridConstantineRoman EmperorEmperor Constantine
Author:Dan Brown
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“The vestiges of pagan religion in Christian symbology are undeniable. Egyptian sun disks became the halos ... The pre-Christian God Mithras ... had his birthday celebrated on December 25 ... Even Christianity's weekly holy day was stolen from the pagans ... Christianity honored the Jewish Sabbath of Saturday, but Constantine shifted it to coincide with the pagans' veneration of the day of the sun ... To this day, most churchgoers attend services on Sunday morning with no idea that they are there on account of the pagan sun god's weekly tribute- Sunday.”

IdeasChristianChristianityMorningSunHolyAccountsNo IdeaSundayThis DaySaturdayHonoredStolenPaganismTributePaganDecemberSabbathEgyptianSunday MorningHalosVenerationDiskConstantineChristian GodHoly DaysSun God
Author:Dan Brown
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“I really took it in-house. The Constantine character has a kind of flesh-and-blood practical look at things that would seem, other people would use the word, occult or spiritual. But here, demons are real. So for me it was more taking it from the film itself. I didn't really need to go outside the piece itself to inform me because the perspective on it, what the character does, was provided by the script.”

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Author:Keanu Reeves
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“I think it's important to realise that what happens in Neo-Platonism beginning with Plotinus and Porphyry and then going on for the next several centuries, is a real kind of contest for the ideas and convictions of the intelligentsia of the later Roman Empire. So that you have Christians slowly converting more and more powerful people until of course actually Constantine and then other emperors after him, become Christian, and the empire becomes a Christian empire rather than Pagan empire.”

PeopleThinkingKindImportantIdeasRealHappensChristianCoursesNextPowerfulCenturyConvictionEmpiresRealisingContestsEmperorPaganRoman EmpireConvertingConstantine
Author:Peter Adamson
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“Did a Magdalene, a Paul, a Constantine, an Augustine become mountains of ice after their conversion? Quite the contrary. We should never have had these prodigies of conversion and marvelous holiness if they had not changed the flames of human passion into volcanoes of immense love of God.”

IfsShouldHumansInspirationFaithPassionChangedMountainContraryChristian InspirationalConversionIceGod LoveFlamesHolinessImmenseMarvelousVolcanoesProdigiesAugustineConstantineImmense Love
Author:Frances Xavier Cabrini
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