Talk:Augustine of Hippo

I have placed some quotations attributed to Augustine in the article. As yet I have not provided any sourced quotes, and I have moved the text with which this page was started by someone at IP 24.73.194.14 here. Though short introductions to articles are welcome, most pages for people should have a very brief intro, with links to the Wikipedia for more information in the header, and optionally a link in the footer with a {{Wikipedia}} link. A section for external links, and links within the information that is provided about a quotation are also welcome. I move this here simply because it seems a bit long, and I believe that most of this information should either be in the Wikipedia article or in the talk pages for articles about St. Augustine:

Aurelius Augustinus [more commonly "St. Augustine of Hippo," often simply "Augustine"] (354-430 C.E.): rhetor, Christian Neoplatonist, North African Bishop, Doctor of the Roman Catholic Church. One of the decisive developments in the western philosophical tradition was the eventually widespread merging of the Greek philosophical tradition and the Judeo-Christian religious and scriptural traditions. Augustine is one of the main figures through and by whom this merging was accomplished. He is, as well, one of the towering figures of medieval philosophy whose authority and thought came to exert a pervasive and enduring influence well into the modern period (e.g. Descartes and especially Malebranche), and even up to the present day, especially among those sympathetic to the religious tradition which he helped to shape (e.g. Plantinga 1992; Adams 1999). But even for those who do not share this sympathy, there is much in Augustine's thought that is worthy of serious philosophical attention. Augustine is not only one of the major sources whereby classical philosophy in general and Neoplatonism in particular enter into the mainstream of early and subsequent medieval philosophy, but there are significant contributions of his own that emerge from his modification of that Greco-Roman inheritance, e.g., his subtle accounts of belief and authority, his account of knowledge and illumination, his emphasis upon the importance and centrality of the will, and his focus upon a new way of conceptualizing the phenomena of human history, just to cite a few of the more conspicuous examples.

There are certainly many more quotations of Augustine that could be added than those that I have so far provided, and I hope that whoever has created this page will find it a good place to seek quotations, and to contribute them. ~ Kalki 20:35, 23 Sep 2004 (UTC)

I have made a correction to an egregious misquotation often attributed to St. Augustine. The original Latin can be found here: The original Latin can be found here, and an Italian translation can be found here. I have left the original mistranslation below the Latin & my translation, so that others may compare it to the original Latin and see just how atrociously bad it is. Anyone who doubts my translation of mathematicus should visit the Persues Project's translation, noting "(Post-Aug.)" listed next to the translation, "astrologer" (so that even my translation is giving more credit to the individual who originally translated it, than he is due). In addition, skeptics should read paragraph 36 of De Genesi ad Litteram, where it becomes explicitly obvious to anyone even mildly educated in Latin that Augustine is not speaking of mathematicians.

—This unsigned comment is by 193.171.34.180 (talk • contribs) .

Merged with

St. Augustine, 01:31, 20 Sep 2004 Lunaverse. Content was: *Lord, grant me chastity and continence... but not yet.

merged by Aphaia 15:10, 28 Mar 2005 (UTC)

I have read in Plato and Cicero...

I deleted the quote: "I have read in Plato and Cicero sayings that are wise and very beautiful; but I have never read in either of them: "Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden.". Augustine never says this in the Confessions. Augustine never read Plato, he read Plotinus. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 192.80.61.185 (talk)

• Granted, but there is a passage in the Confessions that is similar to this misquotation (vii.9). I've added an excerpt from it. Grommel 01:42, 25 August 2010 (UTC)

Quotation found

This was in the Unsourced section: "I asked the whole frame of the world about my God; and he answered, I am not He, but He made me." This is from Confessions x.6, so I removed it from Unsourced and added it in the proper place. Grommel 01:31, 25 August 2010 (UTC)

Original sources?

Among others, these two quotations are of interest to me:

• What does love look like? It has the hands to help others. It has the feet to hasten to the poor and needy. It has eyes to see misery and want. It has the ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of men. That is what love looks like.
  • As quoted in Quote, Unquote (1977) by Lloyd Cory, p. 197

• Hope has two beautiful daughters. Their names are anger and courage; anger at the way things are, and courage to see that they do not remain the way they are.
  • As quoted in Spirituality and Liberation: Overcoming the Great Fallacy (1988) by Robert McAfee Brown, p. 136

However, citation back to a quote book isn't citation at all, and the second one still doesn't really get much closer to the original. If anyone could help find where these originally came from and the original text, I would appreciate it. It's a common problem with quotes in general.

--192.246.233.75 20:06, 4 February 2011 (UTC)

Travel quote

I do not know of anywhere in the writings of Augustine where he praises travel. The quote "The world is a great book, of which they that never stir from home read only a page" and all variants should be removed unless it can be found outside of another collections of quotes.

If anything, Augustine has completely opposite sentiments which csn be documented:

"He to whom foreign travel is sweet, loves not his country: if his country is sweet, travel is bitter; if travel is bitter, all the day there is trouble." Exposition on Psalm 86, paragraph 10

"What disasters are suffered by those who travel by land or sea! What man can go out of his own house without being exposed on all hands to unforeseen accidents?" The City of God (Book XXII), chapter 22, paragraph 3

These expressions can be interpreted as statements of dim regard for travel, or simple statements of opinions or facts without definite judgment on his part. I am removing the tag as I see no strong reason to dispute the quote, but if you insist upon it one could create a "Disputed" section for it, after the sourced quotes. ~ Kalki (talk · contributions) 05:41, 18 March 2011 (UTC)