Fragments of lost works

And the most admirable Justin rightly declared that the aforementioned are like robbers.

Justin of Neapolis, a man not far from the apostles either in time or in virtue, says that what dies is inherited, while what lives inherits; and that the flesh dies, while the kingdom of heaven lives.

When God fashioned man in the beginning, he made the things of his nature hang on his will, making trial of him by a single command. For if he kept it, he made him to be of the immortal lot; if he transgressed, of the opposite. Man, having been made so and having at once gone on to transgression, received corruption into his nature. And since corruption had become part of his nature, it was necessary that the one who wished to save should be the one who did away with the substance that caused corruption. This could not happen otherwise than if life by nature were joined to what had received corruption, doing away with the corruption and keeping what had received it immortal from then on. For this reason the Word had to come to be in a body, so that he might free us from the death of natural corruption. For if, as you say, he had merely held back our death by a nod, death would not have come near because of his will, but we would none the less have been corruptible again, carrying natural corruption in ourselves.

We shall not harm God by being ignorant of him, but we shall deprive ourselves of his friendship.

Neither will light ever be darkness, as long as it is light, nor will the truth of what we hold be refuted. For it is [truth], and nothing is stronger than it.

Into a hard and disobedient heart a sound word does not enter, but, as if struck back, it returns to itself.

As health is the good of the body, so the knowledge of God is the good of the soul, being a kind of health of the soul, by which likeness to God comes about.

As it goes along with all the bodies made by God that they have a shadow, so it follows for God, who is just, to assign to each, to those who chose good things and to those who preferred evil ones, what he deserves.

The soul is hard to bring back up to the good things from which it slipped, and hard to bring out of the evil things to which it has grown accustomed. [If you had ever been willing to blame yourself, I might perhaps have nourished some good hopes for you through the medicine of repentance; but since you have utterly despised the fear [of God] and spat upon faith in Christ itself, it would have been better for you not to have been born from the womb.]

It escapes them, as is likely, that he has gone out of error into the truth through true faith; but he himself truly knows himself, not raving, as they say, but set free, through the simple truth that is always the same, from the unstable and changeable corruption that goes with the manifold variety of error.

To do well, men, I think is nothing other than to live according to truth; and to live well, that is, according to truth, is not possible without understanding the nature of things.

The inexperience of the teacher destroys the learners, and the negligence of the learners brings danger to the teacher, especially when they are careless because of his lack of knowledge.

To give in and yield to the passions is the utmost slavery, just as to master them is the only freedom.

Since not sinning is the greatest good, the second good is to be set right by punishment; but whoever does wrong for a long time and remains unpunished must be thought the most unfortunate of all.

Through the inexperience and badness of a charioteer the yoked horses are bound to be carried over cliffs, just as by his experience and virtue they are kept safe.

The goal for one who pursues philosophy is likeness to God, as far as possible.

With God there is neither lack of room nor anything beyond number.

He speaks not about foreign nations, but about the people that agrees with the nations, according to what was said by Jeremiah: “It is bitter for you to have forsaken me, says the Lord your God; for from of old you broke your yoke and burst your bonds and said, I will not serve, but I will go upon every high mountain and under every tree, and there I will be dissolved in my sexual immorality.”