Thomas Aquinas famous quotes

Law has the power to compel: indeed, the ability to enforce is a condition of the ability to command.
-- Thomas Aquinas

#Law #Ability #Command

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.
-- Thomas Aquinas

#Spiritual #Men #Medicine

Eternity is called whole, not because it has parts, but because it is lacking in nothing.
-- Thomas Aquinas

#Eternity #Lacking

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

#Philosophical #Hands #Catholic

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.
-- Thomas Aquinas

#Catholic #Matter #Dogma

The things that we love tell us what we are.
-- Thomas Aquinas

#Love #Greatness #Catholic

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

#Character #Passion #Mind

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

#Inspirational #Believe #Sleep

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

#Catholic #Saint #Way

To love God is something greater than to know Him.
-- Thomas Aquinas

#Faith #Inspiration #God Love

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

#Philosophical #Thoughtful #Love Is

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

#Faith #Love Is #Thoughtful

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

#Believe #Scary #Religion

The celebration of Holy Mass is as valuable as the death of Jesus on the cross.
-- Thomas Aquinas

#Jesus #Sacrifice #Celebration

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

#Inspirational #Peace #Thoughtful

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

#Faith #Hope #Philosophical

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

#Evil #Catholic #Flesh

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

#Spiritual #Men #Addiction

To love is to will the good of the other.
-- Thomas Aquinas

#Love #Love Is

Wonder is the desire of knowledge.
-- Thomas Aquinas

#Desire #Wonder

For those with faith, no evidence is necessary; for those without it, no evidence will suffice.
-- Thomas Aquinas

#Evidence

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.
-- Thomas Aquinas

#Wise #Wisdom #Evil

I receive Thee ransom of my soul. For love of Thee have I studied and kept vigil toiled preached and taught…
-- Thomas Aquinas

#Soul #Taught #Ransom

The existence of a prime mover- nothing can move itself; there must be a first mover. The first mover is called God.
-- Thomas Aquinas

#Moving #Firsts #Prime

Love takes up where knowledge leaves off.
-- Thomas Aquinas

#Love #Philosophical #Thoughtful

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

#Friendship #Philosophical #Real Friends

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.
-- Thomas Aquinas

#Patience #Perfection #Done

Beware of the person of one book.
-- Thomas Aquinas

#Reading #Book #Philosophical

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

#Friendship #Relationship #Philosophical

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

#Thoughtful #Love Is #Shining

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

#Live Well #Shows #Wells

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.
-- Thomas Aquinas

#People #Liberty #Inappropriate

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.
-- Thomas Aquinas

#Stars #War #Thoughtful

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.
-- Thomas Aquinas

#Perseverance #Heart #Waiting

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

#Men #Willpower #Virtue

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.
-- Thomas Aquinas

#Men #Redemption #Charity

It is not theft, properly speaking, to take secretly and use another's property in a case of extreme need: because that which he takes for the support of his life becomes his own property by reason of that need
-- Thomas Aquinas

#Support #Use #Needs

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

#Faith #Blessed #Inspiration

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.
-- Thomas Aquinas

#Love #Fear #Philosophy

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

#Ethos #Unity #Church

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.
-- Thomas Aquinas

#Powerful #Heart #Compassion

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.
-- Thomas Aquinas

#Devil #World #Made

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.
-- Thomas Aquinas

#Peace #Justice #Charity

Reason in man is rather like God in the world.
-- Thomas Aquinas

#Knowledge #Men #World

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.
-- Thomas Aquinas

#Believe #Thoughtful #Love Is

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.
-- Thomas Aquinas

#Opinion #Share #Findings

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

#Philosophical #Thoughtful #Love Is

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.
-- Thomas Aquinas

#Believe #May #Saint

Whatever is received is received according to the nature of the recipient.
-- Thomas Aquinas

#Philosophical

One faith, St. Paul writes (Eph. 4:5). Hold most firmly that our faith is identical with that of the ancients. Deny this, and you dissolve the unity of the Church ... We must hold this for certain, namely: that the faith of the people at the present day is one with the faith of the people in past centuries. Were this not true, then we would be in a different church than they were in and, literally, the Church would not be One.
-- Thomas Aquinas

#Writing #Past #People

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...
-- Thomas Aquinas

#Religious #Philosophy #Angel

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

#Law #Community #Care

Love follows knowledge.
-- Thomas Aquinas

An angel can illumine the thought and mind of man by strengthening the power of vision and by bringing within his reach some truth which the angel himself contemplates.
-- Thomas Aquinas

#Angel #Men #Mind

Without sanctifying grace it is not possible to refrain long from mortal sin.
-- Thomas Aquinas

#Long #Grace #Sin

To virginity is awarded the tribute of the highest beauty
-- Thomas Aquinas

#Tribute #Virginity

God destines us for an end beyond the grasp of reason.
-- Thomas Aquinas

#Reason #Ends

Just as a man cannot live in the flesh unless he is born in the flesh, even so a man cannot have the spiritual life of grace unless he is born again spiritually. This regeneration is effected by Baptism: "Unless a man is born again of water and the Holy Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God" (Jn 3:5)
-- Thomas Aquinas

#Spiritual #Men #Water

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.
-- Thomas Aquinas

#Thoughtful #Love Is #Punishment

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

#Way #Charity #Sin

The Church has ever proved indestructible. Her persecutors have failed to destroy her; in fact, it was during times of persecution that the Church grew more and more; while the persecutors themselves, and those whom the Church would destroy, are the very ones who came to nothing. . . .Again, errors have assailed her; but in fact, the greater the number of errors that have arisen, the more has the truth been made manifest. . . . Nor has the Church failed before the assaults of demons: for she is like a tower of refuge to all who fight against the Devil.
-- Thomas Aquinas

#Fighting #Numbers #Errors

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

#Soul #Thirst

The Eucharist is the Sacrament of Love; It signifies Love, It produces love. The Eucharist is the consummation of the whole spiritual life.
-- Thomas Aquinas

#Love #Spiritual #Produce

The only-begotten Son of God, wanting to make us sharers in His divinity, assumed our nature, so that He, made man, might make men gods.
-- Thomas Aquinas

#Son #Men #Catholic

The magnitude of the punishment matches the magnitude of the sin. Now a sin that is against God is infinite; the higher the person against whom it is committed, the graver the sin-it is more criminal to strike a head of state than a private citizen-and God is of infinite greatness. Therefore an infinite punishment is deserved for a sin committed against Him.
-- Thomas Aquinas

#Greatness #Punishment #Citizens

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

#Believe #Grace #Catholic

Without doubt one is allowed to resist against the unjust aggressor to one's life, one's goods or one's physical integrity; sometimes, even 'til the aggressor's death... In fact, this act is aimed at preserving one's life or one's goods and to make the aggressor powerless. Thus, it is a good act, which is the right of the victim.
-- Thomas Aquinas

#Integrity #Gun #Doubt

The Study of philosophy is not that we may know what men have thought, but what the truth of things is.
-- Thomas Aquinas

#Philosophy #Men #May

Beware the man of a single book.
-- Thomas Aquinas

#Book #Men #Limitation

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

#Thoughtful #Love Is #Men

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.
-- Thomas Aquinas

#Mean #Omission #Catholic

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

#Philosophical #Spirit #Said

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

#Softball #Forever #Captains

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.
-- Thomas Aquinas

#Life #Freedom #Inspire

Man has free choice, or otherwise counsels, exhortations, commands, prohibitions, rewards and punishments would be in vain.
-- Thomas Aquinas

#Men #Choices #Would Be

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.
-- Thomas Aquinas

#Men #Church #Ark

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.
-- Thomas Aquinas

#Prayer #Way #Obedience

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

#Friendship #Philosophical #Justice

Good can exist without evil, whereas evil cannot exist without good.
-- Thomas Aquinas

#Philosophical #Evil #Catholic

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

#Suffering #Saint #Danger

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.
-- Thomas Aquinas

#Men #Order #May

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.
-- Thomas Aquinas

#Art #Work #Lying

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.
-- Thomas Aquinas

#Understanding #May #Faithfulness

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.
-- Thomas Aquinas

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

#Mother #Justice #Mercy

The world of pure spirits stretches between the divine nature and the world of human beings; because divine wisdom has ordained that the higher should look after the lower, angels execute the divine plan for human salvation: they are our guardians, who free us when hindered and help to bring us home.
-- Thomas Aquinas

#Angel #Home #Looks

Human salvation demands the divine disclosure of truths surpassing reason.
-- Thomas Aquinas

#Philosophical #Demand #Reason

Grace does not destroy nature, it perfects it.
-- Thomas Aquinas

#Grace #Doe

What does it take to become a saint? Will it.
-- Thomas Aquinas

#Catholic #Saint #Doe

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

#Mother #Roots #Charity

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.
-- Thomas Aquinas

#Art #Causes #Made

Grace is a certain beginning of glory in us.
-- Thomas Aquinas

#Grace #Glory #Certain

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

#Sympathy #Sleep #Wine

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

#God #Soul #World

The Sacrament of the Body of the Lord puts the demons to flight, defends us against the incentives to vice and to concupiscence, cleanses the soul from sin, quiets the anger of God, enlightens the understanding to know God, inflames the will and the affections with the love of God, fills the memory with spiritual sweetness, confirms the entire man in good, frees us from eternal death, multiplies the merits of a good life, leads us to our everlasting home, and re-animates the body to eternal life
-- Thomas Aquinas

#Spiritual #Memories #Good Life

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

#Equality #Men #Liberty

This Blood that but one drop of has the power to win all the world forgiveness of its world of sin.
-- Thomas Aquinas

#Forgiveness #Winning #Blood

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

#Wise #Men #Relax

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

#Judging #Christ #Confession

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.
-- Thomas Aquinas

#Jesus #Heart #Giving