Credo ut intelligam, alternatively spelled credo ut intellegam, is a Latin sentence of Anselm of Canterbury (Proslogion, 1).
In Anselm's writing, it is placed in juxtaposition to its converse, intellego ut credam ("I think so that I may believe"), when he says Neque enim quaero intelligere ut credam, sed credo ut intelligam[1][2] ("I do not seek to understand in order that I may believe, but rather, I believe in order that I may understand").
[2] The phrase credo ut intelligam is often associated with Anselm's other famous phrase fides quaerens intellectum[3][2] ("faith seeking understanding").
[2] The phrase is based on a sentence of Augustine of Hippo (crede ut intellegas,[4] lit.
Augustine understood the saying to mean that a person must believe in something in order to know anything about God.