Scriptor Ignotus

Add friend
Sign in to Goodreads to learn more about Scriptor Ignotus.


The Bride of the ...
Rate this book
Clear rating

progress: 
 
  (page 250 of 549)
"Bulgakov rejects the Thomistic/Aristotelian notion of God as a "first cause" of the world on the grounds that this ultimately swallows up both creaturely freedom and the world's ontological reality. God doesn't "cause" the world any more than He "causes" Himself, because the world is nothing other than the divine essence posited in creaturely becoming. The world is a living icon, not a manufacture." Mar 03, 2026 06:08PM

 
The Philokalia, V...
Rate this book
Clear rating

progress: 
 
  (page 0 of 384)
""Our passions grow fiercer when left idle through lack of contact with other people. Even that shadow of patience and long-suffering which we thought we possessed while we mixed with our brethren is lost in our isolation through not being exercised. Poisonous creatures...in the desert display their fury only when they detect someone approaching; and likewise passion-filled men..."

- John Cassian, Institutes"
Sep 17, 2025 07:46PM

 
Loading...
William Faulkner
“People to whom sin is just a matter of words, to them salvation is just words too.”
William Faulkner, As I Lay Dying

Erasmus
“Although the prince will never make any decision hastily, he will never be more hesitant or more circumspect than in starting a war; other actions have their different disadvantages, but war always brings about the wreck of everything that is good, and the tide of war overflows with everything that is worst; what is more, there is no evil that persists so stubbornly. War breeds war; from a small war a greater is born, from one, two; a war that begins as a game becomes bloody and serious; the plague of war, breaking out in one place, infects neighbours too and, indeed, even those far from the scene.

[. . .]

Certain arts, such as astrology and what is called alchemy, were banned by law because they were too close to fraud and were generally managed by trickery, even if it were possible for a man to practise them honestly. This would be far more justifiable in the case of wars, even if some of them might be just — although with the world in its present state, I am not sure that any of that kind could be found, that is, wars not caused by ambition, anger, arrogance, lust, or greed. It often happens that the leaders of men, more extravagant than their private resources will allow, will take a chance to stir up war in order to boost their own finances, even by pillaging their own people. 'This is sometimes done by princes in collusion with one another, on some trumped-up pretext, in order to weaken the people and to strengthen their own position at the expense of the state. For these reasons the good Christian prince must be suspicious of all wars, however just.

[. . .]

The godly and merciful prince will also be influenced by seeing that the greatest part of all the great evils which every war entails falls on people unconnected with the war, who least deserve to suffer these calamities. When the prince has made his calculations and reckoned up the total of all these woes (if indeed they could ever be reckoned up), then let him say to himself: ‘Shall I alone be the cause of so much woe? Shall so much human blood, so many widows, so many grief-stricken households, so many childless old people, so many made undeservedly poor, the total ruin of morality, law, and religion: shall all this be laid at
my door? Must I atone for all this before Christ?”
Erasmus, The Education of a Christian Prince with the Panegyric for Archduke Philip of Austria
tags: war

Terence
“I am a human being, and thus nothing human is alien to me.”
Terence. (Terentius)

Blaise Pascal
“Man is but a reed, the feeblest thing in nature, but he is a thinking reed. The entire universe need not arm itself to crush him… But if the universe were to crush him, man would still be nobler than that which killed him, because he knows that he dies and the advantage which the universe has over him – the universe knows nothing of this. All our dignity then consists in thought. By it we must elevate ourselves, and not by space and time, which we cannot fill.”
Blaise Pascal, Pensées

Voltaire
“‎Life is a shipwreck, but we must not forget to sing in the lifeboats.”
Voltaire

8115 The History Book Club — 25987 members — last activity 14 hours, 41 min ago
"Interested in history - then you have found the right group". The History Book Club is the largest history and nonfiction group on Goodread ...more
220 Goodreads Librarians Group — 314964 members — last activity 3 minutes ago
Goodreads Librarians are volunteers who help ensure the accuracy of information about books and authors in the Goodreads' catalog. The Goodreads Libra ...more
205891 Reading the Church Fathers — 329 members — last activity Jan 02, 2025 09:30PM
There is an immense library of Christian philosophy, theology, history, apologetics, biblical commentary, and devotion written in the first seven cent ...more
year in books
Paul Ch...
716 books | 867 friends

Amora
1,154 books | 1,056 friends

Ifa Muj...
1,663 books | 29 friends

Darren
912 books | 4,942 friends

Ian Ham...
485 books | 365 friends

Megan
37,788 books | 402 friends


Hina
2,602 books | 110 friends

More friends…



Polls voted on by Scriptor Ignotus

Lists liked by Scriptor Ignotus