The Nag Hammadi Library Quotes

“Focus your attention upon yourselves. Do not focus your attention upon other things—that is, what you have cast away from yourselves. Do not return to eat what you have vomited. Do not be moth-eaten, do not be worm-eaten, for you have already gotten rid of that. Do not be a place for the devil, for you have already destroyed him. Do not strengthen what stands in your way, what is collapsing, to support it. One who is lawless is nothing. Treat the lawless one more harshly than the just one, for the lawless does what he does because he is lawless, but the just does what he does with people because he is righteous. Do the Father’s will, then, for you are from him.”
― Marvin Meyer, The Nag Hammadi Scriptures: An Enlightening Compilation of Gnostic Manuscripts Revealing New Perspectives on Early Christianity, Ancient Judaism, and Greco-Roman Religions

“receiving knowledge means truly to come into being, to be manifested, whereas those who remain in error do not really exist at all”
― Marvin Meyer, The Nag Hammadi Scriptures: An Enlightening Compilation of Gnostic Manuscripts Revealing New Perspectives on Early Christianity, Ancient Judaism, and Greco-Roman Religions

“Recognize what is in your sight, and that which is hidden from you will become plain to you.”
― Anonymous, The Nag Hammadi Library

“Steady the feet of those who stumble and extend your hands to the sick. Feed the hungry and give rest to the weary. Awaken those who wish to arise and rouse those who sleep, for you embody vigorous understanding. If what is strong acts like this, it becomes even stronger.”
― Marvin W. Meyer, The Nag Hammadi Scriptures: An Enlightening Compilation of Gnostic Manuscripts Revealing New Perspectives on Early Christianity, Ancient Judaism, and Greco-Roman Religions

“Know what is in front of your face, and what is hidden from you will be disclosed to you. For there is nothing hidden that will not be revealed.”
― Marvin W. Meyer, The Nag Hammadi Scriptures: An Enlightening Compilation of Gnostic Manuscripts Revealing New Perspectives on Early Christianity, Ancient Judaism, and Greco-Roman Religions

“What did Jesus say to you? Thomas said to them: If I tell you one of the words which he said to me, you will take up stones (and) throw them at me; and a fire will come out of the stones (and) burn you up.
[Gospel of Thomas - 13]”
― Marvin Meyer, The Nag Hammadi Scriptures

“This idea inspires another impressive image, that of cosmic existence as a nightmarish dream, whose unreal nature is understood only when the dreamer wakes up”
― Unknown Nag Hammadi, The Nag Hammadi Scriptures: An Enlightening Compilation of Gnostic Manuscripts Revealing New Perspectives on Early Christianity, Ancient Judaism, and Greco-Roman Religions

“Being male forms, since they have not originated from the sickness, which is femaleness,36 but from one who has already left the sickness behind, possess the name “church.” For”
― Marvin W. Meyer, The Nag Hammadi Scriptures: An Enlightening Compilation of Gnostic Manuscripts Revealing New Perspectives on Early Christianity, Ancient Judaism, and Greco-Roman Religions

“The Secret Book of James1 The Letter of James (1, 1–8) [James]2 writes to….3 Peace be [with you from] peace, [love] from love, [grace] from grace, [faith] from faith, life from holy life. Secret Books (1, 8–2, 7) You have asked me to send you a secret book revealed to me and Peter by the master,4 and I could not turn you”
― Marvin Meyer, The Nag Hammadi Scriptures: An Enlightening Compilation of Gnostic Manuscripts Revealing New Perspectives on Early Christianity, Ancient Judaism, and Greco-Roman Religions

“In those days the earth will be unstable, and people will not sail the sea or discern the stars in heaven. Every sacred voice of the word of God will become silent, and the air will be unhealthy. This is the senility of the world: godlessness, dishonor, contempt for noble words.”
― Unknown Nag Hammadi, The Nag Hammadi Scriptures: An Enlightening Compilation of Gnostic Manuscripts Revealing New Perspectives on Early Christianity, Ancient Judaism, and Greco-Roman Religions

“The mother of the fire did not have Power. She sent fire upon the soul and the land, and she burned all the dwellings in it, until her consuming rage18 ceased. When she can find nothing else to burn, she will consume herself.”
― Unknown Nag Hammadi, The Nag Hammadi Scriptures: An Enlightening Compilation of Gnostic Manuscripts Revealing New Perspectives on Early Christianity, Ancient Judaism, and Greco-Roman Religions

“For if chaff is mixed with wheat, it is not the chaff that is contaminated but the wheat.”
― Unknown Nag Hammadi, The Nag Hammadi Scriptures: An Enlightening Compilation of Gnostic Manuscripts Revealing New Perspectives on Early Christianity, Ancient Judaism, and Greco-Roman Religions

“Judge before you are judged, because in you are judge and partiality. If you are condemned by it, who will pardon you? Or if you are pardoned by it, who can detain you?”
― Unknown Nag Hammadi, The Nag Hammadi Scriptures: An Enlightening Compilation of Gnostic Manuscripts Revealing New Perspectives on Early Christianity, Ancient Judaism, and Greco-Roman Religions

“Traditions about Paul’s journey to heaven were widespread in early Christianity, and they were described in a well-known text, the Vision of Paul.5 Translated from Greek into several languages (a long version exists in Latin; a Coptic version is also extant), this document exerted a great influence on authors during the Middle Ages, and it was one of the sources of Dante’s Divine Comedy. Nevertheless, there is no evidence of specific literary parallels between the Vision of Paul and the Coptic Revelation of Paul.”
― Unknown Nag Hammadi, The Nag Hammadi Scriptures: An Enlightening Compilation of Gnostic Manuscripts Revealing New Perspectives on Early Christianity, Ancient Judaism, and Greco-Roman Religions

“The master said, “[You have] asked me about a [true] saying that eye has not seen, nor have I heard it, except from you.63 But I say to you, when what moves a person slips away, that person will be called dead, and when what is living leaves what is dead, it will be called alive.”
― Unknown Nag Hammadi, The Nag Hammadi Scriptures: An Enlightening Compilation of Gnostic Manuscripts Revealing New Perspectives on Early Christianity, Ancient Judaism, and Greco-Roman Religions

“The master said, “Everyone who has known oneself44 has seen oneself. Everything that person is given to do that person does. So such a person has come to [resemble] that place45 in goodness.”
― Unknown Nag Hammadi, The Nag Hammadi Scriptures: An Enlightening Compilation of Gnostic Manuscripts Revealing New Perspectives on Early Christianity, Ancient Judaism, and Greco-Roman Religions

“but to the fool good and evil are the same.”
― Unknown Nag Hammadi, The Nag Hammadi Scriptures: An Enlightening Compilation of Gnostic Manuscripts Revealing New Perspectives on Early Christianity, Ancient Judaism, and Greco-Roman Religions

“The genre of the Book of Thomas is composite. The subscript title designates the complete work as the “book” of Thomas, identified as “the athlts (i.e., ‘one who struggles’ against the fiery passions of the body) writing to the perfect”; the opening lines designate the work as “hidden sayings” or “secret sayings” spoken by Jesus to Judas Thomas and recorded by Mathaias as he heard them speaking.”
― Unknown Nag Hammadi, The Nag Hammadi Scriptures: An Enlightening Compilation of Gnostic Manuscripts Revealing New Perspectives on Early Christianity, Ancient Judaism, and Greco-Roman Religions

“Although certainly [98] people in general are [inclined] to say that chaos is darkness, in actuality chaos comes from a shadow, and it is the shadow that has been called darkness. The shadow comes from something that has existed from the beginning, and so it is obvious that something in the beginning existed before chaos came into being, and chaos came after what was in the beginning.2”
― Unknown Nag Hammadi, The Nag Hammadi Scriptures: An Enlightening Compilation of Gnostic Manuscripts Revealing New Perspectives on Early Christianity, Ancient Judaism, and Greco-Roman Religions

“The Root of Evil (83, 18–30) Let each of us also dig down after the root of evil within us and pull it out of our hearts from the root. It will be uprooted if we recognize it. But if we are ignorant of it, it takes root in us and produces fruit in our hearts. It dominates us. We are its slaves, and it takes us captive so that we do what we do [not] want and do [not] do what we want. It is powerful because we do not recognize it. As long as [it] exists, it stays active.”
― Unknown Nag Hammadi, The Nag Hammadi Scriptures: An Enlightening Compilation of Gnostic Manuscripts Revealing New Perspectives on Early Christianity, Ancient Judaism, and Greco-Roman Religions

“Ignorance Is the Mother of Evil (83, 30–84, 14) Ignorance is the mother of [all evil]. Ignorance leads to [death, because] those who come from [ignorance] neither were nor [are] nor will be. [But those in the truth] [84] will be perfect when all truth is revealed. For truth is like ignorance. While hidden, truth rests in itself, but when revealed and recognized, truth is praised in that it is stronger than ignorance and error. It gives freedom.”
― Unknown Nag Hammadi, The Nag Hammadi Scriptures: An Enlightening Compilation of Gnostic Manuscripts Revealing New Perspectives on Early Christianity, Ancient Judaism, and Greco-Roman Religions

“All those who have everything should know themselves,108 shouldn’t they? If some do not know themselves, they will not enjoy what they have, but those who know themselves will enjoy their possessions.”
― Unknown Nag Hammadi, The Nag Hammadi Scriptures: An Enlightening Compilation of Gnostic Manuscripts Revealing New Perspectives on Early Christianity, Ancient Judaism, and Greco-Roman Religions

“Do not fear the flesh and do not love it. If you fear the flesh, it will dominate you. If you love the flesh, it will swallow you up and strangle you.”
― Unknown Nag Hammadi, The Nag Hammadi Scriptures: An Enlightening Compilation of Gnostic Manuscripts Revealing New Perspectives on Early Christianity, Ancient Judaism, and Greco-Roman Religions

“Truth, which has existed from the beginning, is sown everywhere, and many see it being sown, but few see it being reaped.”
― Unknown Nag Hammadi, The Nag Hammadi Scriptures: An Enlightening Compilation of Gnostic Manuscripts Revealing New Perspectives on Early Christianity, Ancient Judaism, and Greco-Roman Religions

“Light and darkness, life and death, and right and left are siblings7 of one another, and inseparable. For this reason the good are not good, the bad are not bad, life is not life, and death is not death. Each will dissolve into its original nature, but what is superior to the world cannot be dissolved, for it is eternal.”
― Unknown Nag Hammadi, The Nag Hammadi Scriptures: An Enlightening Compilation of Gnostic Manuscripts Revealing New Perspectives on Early Christianity, Ancient Judaism, and Greco-Roman Religions

“(1) Jesus said, “If you bring forth what is within you, what you have will save you. (2) If you do not have that within you, what you do not have within you [will] kill you.”131”
― Unknown Nag Hammadi, The Nag Hammadi Scriptures: An Enlightening Compilation of Gnostic Manuscripts Revealing New Perspectives on Early Christianity, Ancient Judaism, and Greco-Roman Religions

“Jesus said, “Show me the stone that the builders rejected: that is the cornerstone.”126 67 Jesus said, “One who knows everything but lacks in oneself lacks everything.”
― Unknown Nag Hammadi, The Nag Hammadi Scriptures: An Enlightening Compilation of Gnostic Manuscripts Revealing New Perspectives on Early Christianity, Ancient Judaism, and Greco-Roman Religions

“Jesus said, “A city built upon a high hill and fortified cannot fall, nor can it be hidden.”
― Unknown Nag Hammadi, The Nag Hammadi Scriptures: An Enlightening Compilation of Gnostic Manuscripts Revealing New Perspectives on Early Christianity, Ancient Judaism, and Greco-Roman Religions

“(3) “For there are five trees in paradise for you; they do not change, summer or winter, and their leaves do not fall. (4) Whoever knows them will not taste death.”44”
― Unknown Nag Hammadi, The Nag Hammadi Scriptures: An Enlightening Compilation of Gnostic Manuscripts Revealing New Perspectives on Early Christianity, Ancient Judaism, and Greco-Roman Religions

“(1) The disciples said to Jesus, “Tell us how our end will be.”40 (2) Jesus said, “Have you discovered the beginning, then, so that you are seeking the end? For where the beginning is the end will be.”
― Unknown Nag Hammadi, The Nag Hammadi Scriptures: An Enlightening Compilation of Gnostic Manuscripts Revealing New Perspectives on Early Christianity, Ancient Judaism, and Greco-Roman Religions