Peter abelard Quotes

“The men who abandon themselves to the passions of this miserable life, are compared in Scripture to beasts.”

“By doubting we are led to question, by questioning we arrive at the truth.”

“The key to wisdom is this - constant and frequent questioning, for by doubting we are led to question and by questioning we arrive at the truth.”

“It is by doubting that we come to investigate, and by investigating that we recognize the truth.”

“Our redemption through the suffering of Christ is that deeper love within us which not only frees us from slavery to sin, but also secures for us the true liberty of the children of God, in order that we might do all things out of love rather than out of fear - love for him that has shown us such grace that no greater can be found.”

“The Son of God took our nature, and in it took upon himself to teach us by both word and example even to the point of death, thus binding us to himself through love.”

“Are you not moved to tears and bitter compassion, when you behold the only Son of God seized by the most impious, dragged away, mocked, scourged, buffeted, spit upon, crowned with thorns, hung upon the infamous cross between two thieves, finally in such a horrible and execrable manner suffering death, for your salvation and that of the world?”

“I preferred the weapons of dialectic to all the other teachings of philosophy, and armed with these, I chose the conflicts of disputation rather than the trophies of war.”

“We do many things carelessly or unwillingly, but nothing studiously unless we are willing and apply ourselves.”

“The fact is, the great intellectuals of the western religious tradition from Augustine to Aquinas and Peter Abelard became philosophically dominant. The intellectual tradition was preserved. The great intellectuals of the Islamic tradition like Averroes and Avicenna became heretics whose influence disappeared under the weight of rote preaching and practice. Islam as a result has a moral code, a legalistic system of right and wrong, but no evolved ethical tradition.”