Augustine of Hippo

354–430 · Bishop of Hippo Regius, theologian & philosopher

Augustine was bishop of Hippo Regius in Roman North Africa. He wrote the Confessions, The City of God and On the Trinity. He did write about almsgiving and need. In his eighth homily on the First Epistle of John he says, “You give bread to the hungry: but better it were that none hungered, and you had none to give to.” But the tidy line about “justice withheld” has not been found anywhere in his writings.

Traced to source

5 quotes we’ve traced to Augustine of Hippo

“If you believe what you like in the gospels, and reject what you don't like, it is not the gospel you believe, but yourself”

Attributed

“Charity is no substitute for justice withheld”

Disputed

“Do not despair: one thief was saved. Do not presume: one thief was damned”

Disputed

“He who sings prays twice”

Disputed

“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 as they are”

Disputed

Not actually Augustine of Hippo

Often misattributed to Augustine of Hippo

Famous lines widely pinned on Augustine of Hippo that we’ve traced to someone else.

“Do not despair: one thief was saved. Do not presume: one thief was damned”

actually Unknown — a preacher’s proverb credited to Augustine

“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 as they are”

actually Unknown

“In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity”

actually Marco Antonio de Dominis

“Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you”

actually Unknown (traditionally credited to Ignatius of Loyola)

“The truth is like a lion. You don't have to defend it. Let it loose and it will defend itself”

actually Unknown — echoes C. H. Spurgeon

“The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page”

actually Richard Lassels

“There is no saint without a past, no sinner without a future”

actually Oscar Wilde

Did they really say it?

Thought Augustine of Hippo said something else?

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