City of god Quotes

“To lead by force all you need is a greater army, but to lead by example, to be a city on a hill, you need an uncompromising respect for basic dignity. And you don't gain either of those things by breeding monsters in dungeons.”

“The peace of the celestial city is the perfectly ordered and harmonious enjoyment of God, and of one another in God. (City of God, Book 19)”

“But can one actually see beauty with eyes blurred by the lack of almost everything a human being needs?”

“But if a man be alone, let him look at the stars. The rays that come from those heavenly worlds, will separate between him and vulgar things. One might think the atmosphere was made transparent with this design, to give man, in the heavenly bodies, the perpetual presence of the sublime. Seen in the streets of cities, how great they are! If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore; and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God which had been shown! But every night come out these envoys of beauty, and light the universe with their admonishing smile.”

“The city of God is filled with glorious things.”

“Augustine in City of God pictures a resurrection in which the bodily systems we no longer need to protect ourselves can use energy to praise God.”

“If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore; and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God which had been shown! But every night come out these envoys of beauty, and light the universe with their admonishing smile.”

“Every good man resists others in those points in which he resists himself.”

“His knowledge is not like ours, which has three tenses: present, past, and future. God's knowledge has no change or variation.”