Theme

Philosophy quotes about faith

Faith appears in this archive as a live philosophical concern—not a slogan. These verified English passages show how thinkers treat faith as a problem of judgment, practice, or explanation.

Why this theme matters

Across 4 recurring voices here (notably Anselm of Canterbury and Averroes), faith is framed through Islamic Philosophy and Scholasticism. Some passages define faith; others warn how it fails; still others relocate it inside habit, community, or language.

In the history of philosophy

Discussions of faith travel through Indian and Islamic traditions. Compare the quotations below with their school labels rather than forcing a single definition.

Thinkers in this collection

Anselm of Canterbury , Rabindranath Tagore , Al-Ghazali , Voltaire , Averroes , Avicenna , Ibn Tufayl , Maimonides

Frequently asked questions

What did philosophers say about faith?

They disagreed in productive ways. In this archive, Anselm of Canterbury, Averroes, and related voices treat faith as something to clarify, cultivate, or critique—not merely to celebrate.

Where can I find philosophy quotes about faith?

This theme page gathers 9 verified English quotations tagged Faith, with links to thinkers and sources.

How should I read quotes about faith?

Read the sentence, then check school and source. A compact line is an entry point into an argument about faith, not a substitute for the surrounding text.

  1. Faith seeking understanding.
  2. Faith is the bird that feels the light and sings when the dawn is still dark.
  3. Certainty is not attained by imitation, but by tasting (direct experience).
  4. If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him.
  5. Truth does not contradict truth; rather it agrees with it and bears witness to it.
  6. I do not seek to understand so that I may believe, but I believe so that I may understand.
  7. Prophecy is a perfection of the human intellect joined to a power of imagination that receives and expresses what the intellect knows.
  8. Wisdom is the companion of the Law and its milk-sister.
  9. The Law has obliged us to reflect upon existing things by means of the intellect, and to seek knowledge of them from that perspective.
  10. If the apparent sense of a scriptural text conflicts with demonstration, that apparent sense admits of allegorical interpretation.
  11. Beyond the intellect there is another stage in which another eye is opened, by which one sees the unseen and what will be in the future.
  12. What revelation teaches by symbols, the philosopher may reach by demonstration; the two agree in substance for those who understand.
  13. Most people cling to the outer forms of worship; to strip those forms away suddenly only harms them.
  14. Prophecy is an overflow from God through the intermediation of the Active Intellect, first to the rational faculty and then to the imaginative faculty.
  15. God has given us the Torah and also intellect, so that we may verify by reason what we have received by tradition.
  16. Inquiry is not forbidden to us; on the contrary, we are commanded to know God by the path of demonstration as far as we can.
  17. I believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who led the Israelites out of Egypt with signs and miracles—not in the God of Aristotle.
  18. Speculative philosophy may lead to a First Cause, yet it cannot yield the living God who speaks in history and commandment.
  19. The religious consciousness does not arise out of our own selves; it is simultaneously the call of God or Buddha.
  20. For what purpose do I exist?