Thomas Aquinas Quotes
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He who does not embrace the teaching of the Church does not have the habit of faith.
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Just as in one man there is one soul and one body, yet many members; even so the Catholic Church is one body, having many members. The soul that quickens this body is the Holy Spirit; and therefore in the Creed after confessing our belief in the Holy Spirit, we are bid to believe in the Holy Catholic Church.
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He who is dying of hunger must be fed rather than taught.
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We are like children, who stand in need of masters to enlighten us and direct us; God has provided for this, by appointing his angels to be our teachers and guides.
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By the divine providence animals are intended for man's use... Hence it is not wrong for man to make use of them, either by killing or in any other way whatsoever.
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What can be accomplished by a few principles is not effected by many. But it seems that everything we see in the world can be accounted for by other principles, supposing God did not exist. For all natural things can be reduced to one principle, which is nature, and all voluntary things can be reduced to one principle, which is human reason, or will. Therefore there is no need to suppose God's existence.
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The Angel's bread is made the Bread of man today.
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Down in adoration falling, Lo! the sacred Host we hail; Lo! o'er ancient forms departing, Newer rites of grace prevail; Faith for all defects supplying, Where the feeble senses fail.
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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.
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Man is closer to God according to his existence in grace than he is according to his existence in nature.
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Clearly the person who accepts the Church as an infallible guide will believe whatever the Church teaches.
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Miracles are signs not to them that believe, but to them that believe not.
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Justice is in subjects as well as in rulers.
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The highest perfection of human life consists in the mind of man being detached from care, for the sake of God.
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Theology is taught by God, teaches God, and leads to God.
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Distinctions drawn by the mind are not necessarily equivalent to distinctions in reality.
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The same fire" (which he decides to be material) " torments the damned in hell and the just in purgatory...The least pain in purgatory exceeds the greatest in this life.
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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.
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Whatever a man has in superabundance is owed, of natural right, to the poor for their sustenance.
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Man can sin against nature in two ways. First, when he sins against his specific rational nature, acting contrary to reason. In this sense, we can say that every sin is a sin against man's nature, because it is against man's right reason.
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Natural inclinations are present in things from God, who moves all things. So it is impossible for the natural inclinations of a species to be toward evil in itself. But there is in all perfect animals a natural inclination toward carnal union. Therefore it is impossible for carnal union to be evil in itself.
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Good and evil are essential differences of the act of the will. For good and evil pertain essentially to the will; just as truth and falsehood pertain to the reason, the act of which is distinguished essentially by the difference of truth and falsehood (according as we say that an opinion is true or false.) Consequently, good and evil volition are acts differing in species.
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Charity, by which God and neighbor are loved, is the most perfect friendship.
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A man does not always choose what his guardian angel intends.