Anselm of Canterbury Quotes

10 Sourced Quotes

For I do not seek to understand in order to believe, but I believe in order to understand. For I believe this: unless I believe, I will not understand.

Anselm of Canterbury
Therefore, lord...we believe that you are something than which nothing greater can be thought.

Anselm of Canterbury
God was conceived of a most pure Virgin … it was fitting that the virgin should be radiant with a purity so great that a greater purity cannot be conceived.

Anselm of Canterbury
God often works more by the life of the illiterate seeking the things that are God's, than by the ability of the learned seeking the things that are their own.

Anselm of Canterbury
God is that, the greater than which cannot be conceived.

Anselm of Canterbury
But a problem occurs about nothing. For that from which something is made is a cause of the thing made from it; and, necessarily,every cause contributes some assistance to the effect's existence.

Anselm of Canterbury
Therefore Lord, not only are you that than which a greater cannot be thought but you are also something greater than can be thought.

Anselm of Canterbury
I do not try, Lord, to attain Your lofty heights, because my understanding is in no way equal to it. But I do desire to understand Your truth a little, that truth that my heart believes and loves. I do not seek to understand that I may believe; but I believe so that I may understand. For I believe this also, that unless I believe, I shall not understand.

Anselm of Canterbury
It is, therefore, not proper for God thus to pass over sin unpunished.

Anselm of Canterbury
There is no inconsistency in God's commanding us not to take upon ourselves what belongs to Him alone. For to execute vengeance belongs to none but Him who is Lord of all; for when the powers of the world rightly accomplish this end, God himself does it who appointed them for the purpose.

Anselm of Canterbury