Thomas Aquinas Quotes
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Grace does not destroy nature, it perfects it.
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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.
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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.
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The blessed in the kingdom of heaven will see the punishments of the damned, in order that their bliss be more delightful for them.
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In the realm of evil thoughts none induces to sin as much as do thoughts that concern the pleasure of the flesh.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Justice is a certain rectitude of mind whereby a man does what he ought to do in the circumstances confronting him.
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Art is right reason in the doing of work.
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Practical sciences proceed by building up; theoretical science by resolving into components.
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The greatest kindness one can render to any man consists in leading him from error to truth.
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Not everyone who is enlightened by an angel knows that he is enlightened by him.
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We should love others truly, for their own sakes rather than our own.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Whenever God wakes in us, our thinking becomes clear - nothing is missing.
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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.
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God should not be called an individual substance, since the principle of individuation is matter.
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God's precepts are light to the loving, heavy to the fearful.
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One cannot use an evil action with reference to a good intention.
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For creation is not a change, but that dependence of the created existence on the principle from which it is instituted, and thus is of the genus of relation; whence nothing prohibits it being in the created as in the subject. Creation is thus said to be a kind of change, according to the way of understanding, insofar as our intellect accepts one and the same thing as not existing before and afterwards existing.
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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.