Controversial Sayings

861 sayings found from the Ancient era

For thus far also, 'The wife hath not power of her own body, but the man: in like manner also the man hath not power of his own body, but the woman.' That that also, which, not for the begetting of children, but for weakness and incontinence, either …

— Saint Augustine c. 401 AD
Controversial

Husband and wife receive command and pattern how they ought to be one with another. The command is, 'Let wives be subject unto their own husbands, as unto the Lord; because the husband is the head of the wife;' and, 'Husbands, love your wives.'

— Saint Augustine c. 395 AD
Controversial

If Adam and Eve had not sinned, God might have created children for them without the need of intercourse.

— Saint Augustine c. 413-426 AD
Controversial

Having children is the only worthy fruit of sexual intercourse.

— Saint Augustine c. 401 AD
Controversial

Sexual abstinence, to avoid lust, is rare among married partners.

— Saint Augustine c. 400-430 AD
Controversial

For whenever unbaptized persons die confessing Christ, this confession is of the same efficacy for the remission of sins as if they were washed in the sacred font of baptism.

— Saint Augustine c. 400 AD
Controversial

The human nature, which first existed, is praised by these men as being so far less tainted with evil manners?

— Saint Augustine c. 418 AD
Controversial

Our nature became corrupted and ruined; and nothing but God's grace alone, through Him who is the Mediator between God and men, and our Almighty Physician, succours it.

— Saint Augustine c. 418 AD
Controversial

Give me the place to stand, and I shall move the earth.

— Archimedes c. 250 BCE (approximate, statement made much earlier than Pappus's account)
Controversial

Eureka!

— Archimedes c. 250 BCE (approximate, story relayed by Vitruvius Pollio in 1st century BCE)
Controversial

Noli turbare circulos meos.

— Archimedes c. 212 BCE
Controversial

There are things which seem incredible to most men who have not studied mathematics.

— Archimedes Undated, but from accounts of his life and work.
Controversial

Mathematics reveals its secrets only to those who approach it with pure love, for its own beauty.

— Archimedes Undated, but from attributed quotes.
Controversial

I had been chosen by the gods, that I was of divine essence and therefore entitled to rule Egypt.

— Ramesses II c. 1279-1213 BC (reign)
Controversial

His Majesty was confident, an unstoppable fighting force. Everything near him was ablaze with fire – all the foreign lands were blasted by his scorching breath. He slaughtered all the troops of the doomed Hittite, his nobleman and his brothers, along…

— Ramesses II c. 1274 BC (Battle of Kadesh)
Controversial

Appease the ka-force of Amun.

— Ramesses II c. 1279-1213 BC (reign)
Controversial

I boasted that I had fathered 80 sons and around 60 daughters.

— Ramesses II c. 1279-1213 BC (reign)
Controversial

The narrative designed for internal consumption was fiction moulded around a kernel of fact: the pharaoh was indeed cut off from his army, he did face a chariot onslaught while outnumbered, and he did inflict casualties. He lost, but so what? As poli…

— Ramesses II 2016 (modern analysis)
Controversial

If a man destroy the eye of another man, they shall destroy his eye.

— Hammurabi c. 1754 BC
Controversial

If a member of the awilum class struck someone of equal status, they would pay one mina of silver. But if they struck a member of the mushkenum class, they would pay only ten shekels.

— Hammurabi c. 1754 BC
Controversial