Q0232

“Take up and read; take up and read.” — Augustine of Hippo (Confessions VIII.12)

Verified English quotation. Primary source: Confessions VIII.12. Theme: philosophy.

English

Take up and read; take up and read.
Thinker Augustine of Hippo
School Patristic Philosophy
Source Confessions VIII.12
Theme Browse all themes
Another quotation More from this thinker

Source and attribution

The archive attributes this English wording to Confessions VIII.12 and files it under Patristic Philosophy. That locator distinguishes the passage from loose internet attributions: readers can return to the named work or section to check translation, surrounding argument, and edition-specific wording.

About Augustine of Hippo

Augustine of Hippo (354–430) was the North African bishop and theologian who shaped Latin Christianity’s doctrines of grace, sin, and the two cities. A former Manichaean and rhetor, he converted under Ambrose’s influence at Milan and narrated his restless heart in the Confessions.

How to read this passage

This passage is indexed under . Those labels identify the concepts it can illuminate; they do not replace the argument surrounding it in Confessions VIII.12.

How to cite this quotation

APA: Augustine of Hippo. (n.d.). Take up and read; take up and read. In Philosophy Blind Box. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0232

MLA: Augustine of Hippo. “Take up and read; take up and read..” Philosophy Blind Box, https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0232.

Chicago: Augustine of Hippo. “Take up and read; take up and read..” Philosophy Blind Box. Accessed 2026. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0232.

Frequently asked questions

What is the source of the quotation “Take up and read; take up and read.”?

The passage is attributed to Augustine of Hippo, Confessions VIII.12. The archive attributes this English wording to Confessions VIII.12 and files it under Patristic Philosophy. That locator distinguishes the passage from loose internet attributions: readers can return to the named work or section to check translation, surrounding argument, and edition-specific wording.

What does Augustine of Hippo mean by philosophy?

This passage is indexed under . Those labels identify the concepts it can illuminate; they do not replace the argument surrounding it in Confessions VIII.12.

Same thinker

More from Augustine of Hippo

  1. You have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.
  2. Late have I loved you, beauty so ancient and so new, late have I loved you!
  3. What then is time? If no one asks me, I know; if I wish to explain it to one who asks, I do not know.
  4. Give what you command, and command what you will.
  5. Do not go outside; return into yourself. Truth dwells in the inner man.

All quotations by Augustine of Hippo

Same theme

More on philosophy

  1. It is through wonder that people both now begin and first began to philosophize.
  2. A person's character is their destiny.
  3. What is opposed brings together; from what differs comes the finest harmony.
  4. Death is nothing to us: for what has been dissolved has no sensation, and what has no sensation is nothing to us.
  5. Pleasure is the beginning and end of the happy life — not the pleasures of profligates, but freedom from pain in the body and from disturbance in the soul.

Browse all philosophy themes