Quotes by Thomas Aquinas

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.

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

Mercy without justice is the mother of dissolution; justice without mercy is cruelty.

Reason in man is rather like God in the world.

Love takes up where knowledge leaves off.

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

The things that we love tell us what we are.

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

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.

Well-ordered self-love is right and natural.

The Angel's bread is made the Bread of man today.

God himself would not permit evil in this world if good did not come of it.

Theology is taught by God, teaches God, and leads to God.

Godhead here in hiding, whom I adore Masked by these bare shadows, shape and nothing more, See, Lord, at thy service low lies here a heart Lost, all lost in wonder at the God thou art.

To teach in order to lead others to faith is the task of every preacher and of each believer.

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.

The minister to whom confession is made is the delegate of Christ, Who is the Judge of the living and the dead.

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.

It is necessary for the perfection of human society that there should be men who devote their lives to contemplation.

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

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.

The last end of every maker, as such, is himself, for what we make we use for our own sake; and if at any time a man make a thing for the sake of something else, it is referred to his own good, whether his use, his pleasure, or his virtue.

But man is freer than all the animals, on account of his free-will, with which he is endowed above all other animals.

Every truth without exception- and whoever may utter it- is from the Holy Spirit.

It is not possible to be ignorant of the end of things if we know their beginning.

Affirmative precepts are distinguished from negative whenever one is not comprised in the other; thus, that of honoring parents does not comprise that of not killing, and vice versa.

See to whom Jesus is drawing near, three kinds of people: to those who make peace with him, to those who are devoted to God, and to those who are kind to their neighbors.

It is a sin directly against one's neighbour, since one man cannot over-abound in external riches, without another man lacking them.

Obedience unites us so closely to God that it in a way transforms us into Him, so that we have no other will but His. If obedience is lacking, even prayer cannot be pleasing to God.

Arrive at knowledge over small streamlets, and do not plunge immediately into the ocean, since progress must go from the easier to the more difficult.

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.

The proper task of the Savior is that he is a savior; indeed, for this he came into the world: to seek and save what was lost.

Sin is a spiritual illness; thus sinners are in need of salvation.

Charity is the form, mover, mother and root of all the virtues.

Bestow upon me, O Lord my God, understanding to know thee, diligence to seek thee, wisdom to find thee, and a faithfulness that may finally embrace thee.

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

Thus Angels' Bread is made The Bread of man today: The Living Bread from Heaven With figures doth away: O wondrous gift indeed! The poor and lowly may Upon their Lord and Master feed.

It would seem that zeal is not an effect of love. For zeal is a beginning of contention.

The human mind may perceive truth only through thinking, as is clear from Augustine.

Concerning perfect blessedness which consists in a vision of God.

The truth of the Christian faith surpasses the capacity of reason.

The image of God always abides in the soul, whether this image be obsolete and clouded over as to amount to almost nothing; or whether it be obscured or disfigured, as is the case with sinners; or whether it be clear and beautiful as is the case with the just.

To restore man, who had been laid low by sin, to the heights of divine glory, the Word of the eternal Father, though containing all things within His immensity, willed to become small. This He did not by putting aside His greatness but by taking to Himself our littleness.

Practical sciences proceed by building up; theoretical science by resolving into components.

Those who are more adapted to the active life can prepare themselves for contemplation in the practice of the active life, while those who are more adapted to the contemplative life can take upon themselves the works of the active life so as to become yet.

For in order that man may do well, whether in the works of the active life, or in those of the contemplative life, he needs the fellowship of friends.

We can open our hearts to God, but only with Divine help.

So, to detract from the perfection of creatures is to detract from the perfection of divine power.

The Blessed Eucharist is the perfect Sacrament of the Lord's Passion, since It contains Christ Himself and his Passion.

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

The blessed in the kingdom of heaven will see the punishments of the damned, in order that their bliss be more delightful for them.

Right faith is of necessity required for Baptism, since it is said: the justice of God is by faith in Jesus Christ (Romans 3:22) ... Therefore, Baptism without faith avails nothing and thus we must recall that without faith no one is acceptable to God.

If someone knows from experience that daily Communion increases fervor without lessening reverence, then let him go every day. But if someone finds that reverence is lessened and devotion not much increased, then let him sometimes abstain, so as to draw near afterwards with better dispositions.

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.

Mary means Star of the sea, for as mariners are guided to port by the ocean star, so Christians attain to glory through Mary's maternal intercession.

It must be said that charity can, in no way, exist along with mortal sin.

I cannot understand how anyone conscious of mortal sin can laugh or be merry.

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

Unde omnis lex humanitus posita intantum habet de ratione legis, inquantum a lege naturae derivatur. Si vero in aliquo a lege naturali discordet, iam non erit lex sed legis corruptio.

Causes of individuals presuppose causes of the species, which are not univocal yet not wholly equivocal either, since they are expressing themselves in their effects. We could call them analogical. In language too all universal terms presuppose the non-univocal analogical use of the term *being*.

There being an imminent danger for the faith, prelates must be questioned, even publicly, by their subjects.

I would rather feel compassion than know the meaning of it. I would hope to act with compassion without thinking of personal gain.

We must love them both, those whose opinions we share and those whose opinions we reject, for both have labored in the search for truth, and both have helped us in finding it.

If all the sins of the flesh are worthy of condemnation because by them man allows himself to be dominated by that which he has of the animal nature, much more deserving of condemnation are the sins against nature by which man degrades his own animal nature.

In the realm of evil thoughts none induces to sin as much as do thoughts that concern the pleasure of the flesh.

All my words are but chaff next to the faith of a simple man.

Miracles are signs not to them that believe, but to them that believe not.

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.

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

The Jews should not be allowed to keep what they have obtained from others by usury; it were best that they were compelled to worked so that they could earn their living instead of doing nothing but becoming avaricious.

The apostles and their successors are God's vicars in governing the Church which is built on faith and the sacraments of faith. Wherefore, just as they may not institute another Church, so neither may they deliver another faith, nor institute other sacraments.

When the devil is called the god of this world, it is not because he made it, but because we serve him with our worldliness.

Now it seems that everything in the world stems from sources other than God, since the products of nature have their source in nature; deliberate effects can be traced back to human reason or will as their source. There is no need then to assume that God exists.

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

If you can live amid injustice without anger, you are immoral as well as unjust.

The custom of the Church has very great authority and ought to be jealously observed in all things.

A thing is lovable according as it is good. But God is infinite good. Therefore He is infinitely lovable.

An act of love always tends towards two things; to the good that one wills, and to the person for whom one wills it.

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

Faith does not quench desire, but inflames it.

For it is necessary in every practical science to proceed in a composite (i.e. deductive) manner. On the contrary in speculative science, it is necessary to proceed in an analytical manner by breaking down the complex into elementary principles.

The splendor of a soul in grace is so seductive that it surpasses the beauty of all created things.

It would be superfluous to receive by faith, things that can be known by natural reason.

A scrap of knowledge about sublime things is worth more than any amount about trivialities.

Grace renders us like God and a partaker of the divine nature.

There can be no joy in living without joy in work.

A song is the exultation of the mind dwelling on eternal things, bursting forth in the voice.

There is, therefore, a more perfect intellectual life in the angels. In them the intellect does not proceed to self-knowledge from anything exterior, but knows itself through itself.

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.

If anyone without the right faith receives Baptism outside the Church, he does not receive it unto salvation ... From the comparison of the Church to Paradise, we learn that men can receive her Baptism even outside her fold, but that out there no one can receive or keep the salvation of the blessed.

Baptism is the door of the spiritual life and the gateway to the sacraments.

Likewise grace and glory are referred to the same genus, since grace is nothing other than a certain first beginning of glory in us.

To love God is something greater than to know Him.

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.

Peace is the work of justice indirectly, in so far as justice removes the obstacles to peace; but it is the work of charity (love) directly, since charity, according to its very notion, causes peace.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

Beware of the person of one book.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.