Thomas Aquinas Quotations

There is nothing on this earth more to be prized than true friendship.

The things that we love tell us what we are.

If the highest aim of a captain were to preserve his ship, he would keep it in port forever.

Perfection of moral virtue does not wholly take away the passions, but regulates them.

Friendship is the source of the greatest pleasures, and without friends even the most agreeable pursuits become tedious.

Law; an ordinance of reason for the common good, made by him who has care of the community.

In order for a war to be just, three things are necessary. First, the authority of the sovereign. Secondly, a just cause. Thirdly, a rightful intention.

How can we live in harmony? First we need to know we are all madly in love with the same God.

The theologian considers sin mainly as an offence against God; the moral philosopher as contrary to reasonableness.

Moral science is better occupied when treating of friendship than of justice.

That the saints may enjoy their beatitude and the grace of God more abundantly they are permitted to see the punishment of the damned in hell.

Because of the diverse conditions of humans, it happens that some acts are virtuous to some people, as appropriate and suitable to them, while the same acts are immoral for others, as inappropriate to them.

God should not be called an individual substance, since the principal of individuation is matter.

It is possible to demonstrate God's existence, although not a priori, yet a posteriori from some work of His more surely known to us.

If forgers and malefactors are put to death by the secular power, there is much more reason for excommunicating and even putting to death one convicted of heresy.

Now this relaxation of the mind from work consists on playful words or deeds. Therefore it becomes a wise and virtuous man to have recourse to such things at times.

Sorrow can be alleviated by good sleep, a bath and a glass of wine.

Man should not consider his material possession his own, but as common to all, so as to share them without hesitation when others are in need.

We can't have full knowledge all at once. We must start by believing; then afterwards we may be led on to master the evidence for ourselves.

Man cannot live without joy; therefore when he is deprived of true spiritual joys it is necessary that he become addicted to carnal pleasures.

Because philosophy arises from awe, a philosopher is bound in his way to be a lover of myths and poetic fables. Poets and philosophers are alike in being big with wonder.

Pray thee, spare, thyself at times: for it becomes a wise man sometimes to relax the high pressure of his attention to work.

Faith has to do with things that are not seen and hope with things that are not at hand.

It is requisite for the relaxation of the mind that we make use, from time to time, of playful deeds and jokes.

To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.

Good can exist without evil, whereas evil cannot exist without good.

Law is nothing other than a certain ordinance of reason for the common good, promulgated by the person who has the care of the community.

By nature all men are equal in liberty, but not in other endowments.

It is clear that he does not pray, who, far from uplifting himself to God, requires that God shall lower Himself to him, and who resorts to prayer not to stir the man in us to will what God wills, but only to persuade God to will what the man in us wills.

All that is true, by whomsoever it has been said has its origin in the Spirit.

Human salvation demands the divine disclosure of truths surpassing reason.

The truth of our faith becomes a matter of ridicule among the infidels if any Catholic, not gifted with the necessary scientific learning, presents as dogma what scientific scrutiny shows to be false.

Three conditions are necessary for Penance: contrition, which is sorrow for sin, together with a purpose of amendment; confession of sins without any omission; and satisfaction by means of good works.

How is it they live in such harmony the billions of stars - when most men can barely go a minute without declaring war in their minds about someone they know.

To bear with patience wrongs done to oneself is a mark of perfection, but to bear with patience wrongs done to someone else is a mark of imperfection and even of actual sin.

Not everything that is more difficult is more meritorious.

If, then, you are looking for the way by which you should go, take Christ, because He Himself is the way.

Every judgement of conscience, be it right or wrong, be it about things evil in themselves or morally indifferent, is obligatory, in such wise that he who acts against his conscience always sins.

The principal act of courage is to endure and withstand dangers doggedly rather than to attack them.

The test of the artist does not lie in the will with which he goes to work, but in the excellence of the work he produces.

Better to illuminate than merely to shine, to deliver to others contemplated truths than merely to contemplate.

It is necessary to posit something which is necessary of itself, and has no cause of its necessity outside of itself but is the cause of necessity in other things. And all people call this thing God.

The highest manifestation of life consists in this: that a being governs its own actions. A thing which is always subject to the direction of another is somewhat of a dead thing.

Because we cannot know what God is, but only what He is not, we cannot consider how He is but only how He is not.

Most men seem to live according to sense rather than reason.

All the efforts of the human mind cannot exhaust the essence of a single fly.

To live well is to work well, to show a good activity.

A man has free choice to the extent that he is rational.

Justice is a certain rectitude of mind whereby a man does what he ought to do in the circumstances confronting him.

As regards the individual nature, woman is defective and misbegotten, for the active power of the male seed tends to the production of a perfect likeness in the masculine sex; while the production of a woman comes from defect in the active power.

Hold firmly that our faith is identical with that of the ancients. Deny this, and you dissolve the unity of the Church.

Distinctions drawn by the mind are not necessarily equivalent to distinctions in reality.

To convert somebody go and take them by the hand and guide them.

There is but one Church in which men find salvation, just as outside the ark of Noah it was not possible for anyone to be saved.

Three things are necessary for the salvation of man: to know what he ought to believe; to know what he ought to desire; and to know what he ought to do.

Clearly the person who accepts the Church as an infallible guide will believe whatever the Church teaches.

Reason in man is rather like God in the world.

Temperance is simply a disposition of the mind which binds the passion.

Love is a binding force, by which another is joined to me and cherished by myself.

Love must precede hatred, and nothing is hated save through being contrary to a suitable thing which is loved. And hence it is that every hatred is caused by love.

Happiness is secured through virtue; it is a good attained by man's own will.

Whatever is received is received according to the nature of the recipient.

The knowledge of God is the cause of things. For the knowledge of God is to all creatures what the knowledge of the artificer is to things made by his art.

A man should remind himself that an object of faith is not scientifically demonstrable, lest presuming to demonstrate what is of faith, he should produce inconclusive reasons and offer occasion for unbelievers to scoff at a faith based on such ground.

Greed is a sin against God, just as all mortal sins, in as much as man condemns things eternal for the sake of temporal things,

If the motion of the earth were circular, it would be violent and contrary to nature, and could not be eternal, since nothing violent is eternal . It follows, therefore, that the earth is not moved with a circular motion.

Future contingents cannot be certain to us, because we know them as such. They can be certain only to God whose understanding is in eternity above time. Just as a man going along a road does not see those who come after him; but the man who sees the whole road from a height sees all those who are going along the road at the same time.

It must be understood that prime matter, and form as well, is neither generated nor corrupted, because every generation is from something to something. Now that from which generation proceeds is matter, and that to which it proceeds is form. So that, if matter or form were generated, there would be a matter for matter and a form for form, endlessly. Whence, there is generation only of the composite, properly speaking.

It is only God who creates. Man merely rearranges.

Far graver is it to corrupt the faith that is the life of the soul than to counterfeit the money that sustains temporal life.

There is no leisure about politics.

In the end, we know God as unknown.

Because the divine goodness could not be adequately represented by one creature alone, God produced many and diverse creatures, that what was wanting in one in the representation of the divine goodness might be supplied by another. For goodness, which in God is simple and uniform, in creatures is manifold and divided. Thus the whole universe together participates in the divine goodness more perfectly and represents it better than any single creature.

He who achieves power by violence does not truly become lord or master.

God himself would not permit evil in this world if good did not come of it for the benefit and harmony of the universe.

For just as the first general precepts of the law of nature are self-evident to one in possession of natural reason, and have no need of promulgation, so also that of believing in God is primary and self-evident to one who has faith: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is.

I cannot go on.... All that I have written seems to me like so much straw compared to what I have seen and what has been revealed to me.

Man is closer to God according to his existence in grace than he is according to his existence in nature.

Love works in a circle, for the beloved moves the lover by stamping a likeness, and the lover then goes out to hold the beloved inreality. Who first was the beginning now becomes the end of motion.

Sing, my tongue, the Saviour's glory, Of His Flesh, the mystery sing; Of the Blood, all price exceeding, Shed by our Immortal King, Destined, for the world's redemption, From a noble Womb to spring.

Charity is not a potency of the soul, because if it were it would be natural. Nor is it a passion, because it is not in a sensitive potency in which are all passions. Nor is it a habit, because a habit is removed with difficulty; charity, however, is easily lost through one act of mortal sin. Therefore charity is not something created in the soul.

In the life of the body a man is sometimes sick, and unless he takes medicine, he will die. Even so in the spiritual life a man is sick on account of sin. For that reason he needs medicine so that he may be restored to health; and this grace is bestowed in the Sacrament of Penance.

The Cross to me is certain salvation. The Cross is that which I ever adore. The Cross of the Lord is with me. The Cross is my refuge.

One aspect of neighbourly love is that we must not merely will our neighbours good, but actually work to bring it about.

To pretend angels do not exist because they are invisible is to believe we never sleep because we don't see ourselves sleeping.

Angels transcend every religion, every philosophy, every creed. In fact Angels have no religion as we know it... Their existence precedes every religious system that has ever existed on Earth...

He who is not angry when there is just cause for anger is immoral. Why? Because anger looks to the good of justice. And if you can live amid injustice without anger, you are immoral as well as unjust.

The light of faith makes us see what we believe.

Nothing created has ever been able to fill the heart of man. God alone can fill it infinitely.

Suppose a person entering a house were to feel heat on the porch, and going further, were to feel the heat increasing, the more they penetrated within. Doubtless, such a person would believe there was a fire in the house, even though they did not see the fire that must be causing all this heat. A similar thing will happen to anyone who considers this world in detail: one will observe that all things are arranged according to their degrees of beauty and excellence, and that the nearer they are to God, the more beautiful and better they are.

The soul is like an uninhabited world that comes to life only when God lays His head against us.

Love takes up where knowledge leaves off.

Grant me, O Lord my God, a mind to know you, a heart to seek you, wisdom to find you, conduct pleasing to you, faithful perseverance in waiting for you, and a hope of finally embracing you. Amen.

Whatever a man has in superabundance is owed, of natural right, to the poor for their sustenance. So Ambrosius says, and it is also to be found in the Decretum Gratiani: The bread which you withhold belongs to the hungry: the clothing you shut away, to the naked: and the money you bury in the earth is the redemption and freedom of the penniless.

God is never angry for His sake, only for ours.

To love God is something greater than to know Him.

Fear is such a powerful emotion for humans that when we allow it to take us over, it drives compassion right out of our hearts.

Believing is an act of the intellect assenting to the divine truth by command of the will moved by God through grace.

There is within every soul a thirst for happiness and meaning.

Give us, O Lord, a steadfast heart, which no unworthy affection may drag downwards; give us an unconquered heart, which no tribulation can wear out; give us an upright heart, which no unworthy purpose may tempt aside. Bestow upon us also, O Lord our God, understanding to know you, diligence to seek you, wisdom to find you, and a faithfulness that may finally embrace you; through Jesus Christ our Lord.