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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 -
Far graver is it to corrupt the faith that is the life of the soul than to counterfeit the money that sustains temporal life.
Thomas Aquinas
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Grace renders us like God and a partaker of the divine nature.
Thomas Aquinas -
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.
Thomas Aquinas -
The perfection of the effect demonstrates the perfection of the cause, for a greater power brings about a more perfect effect. But God is the most perfect agent. Therefore, things created by Him obtain perfection from Him. So, to detract from the perfection of creatures is to detract from the perfection of divine power.
Thomas Aquinas -
He suddenly announced that he could not write any more since "All that I have written seems like straw to me."
Thomas Aquinas -
Without the suitable conditions life could not exist. But both life and its conditions set forth the operations of inscrutable Power. We know not its origin; we know not its end. And the presumption, if not the degradation, rests with those who place upon the throne of the universe a magnified image of themselves, and make its doings a mere colossal imitation of their own. Wonder was the motive that led people to philosophy ... wonder is a kind of desire in knowledge. It is the cause of delight because it carries with it the hope of discovery.
Thomas Aquinas -
There can be no joy in living without joy in work.
Thomas Aquinas
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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.
Thomas Aquinas -
Wonder was the motive that led people to philosophy ... wonder is a kind of desire in knowledge. It is the cause of delight because it carries with it the hope of discovery.
Thomas Aquinas -
Every truth without exception- and whoever may utter it- is from the Holy Spirit.
Thomas Aquinas -
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.
Thomas Aquinas -
The proper effect of the Eucharist is the transformation of man into God.
Thomas Aquinas -
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.
Thomas Aquinas
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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 -
Well-ordered self-love is right and natural.
Thomas Aquinas -
All my words are but chaff next to the faith of a simple man.
Thomas Aquinas -
...sacred doctrine is especially based upon arguments from authority, inasmuch as its principles are obtained by revelation: thus we ought to believe on the authority of those to whom the revelation has been made. Nor does this take away from the dignity of this doctrine, for although the argument from authority based on human reason is the weakest, yet the argument from authority based on divine revelation is the strongest.
Thomas Aquinas -
Any error about creation also leads to an error about God.
Thomas Aquinas -
The greatest kindness one can render to any man consists in leading him from error to truth.
Thomas Aquinas
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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.
Thomas Aquinas -
Practical sciences proceed by building up; theoretical science by resolving into components.
Thomas Aquinas -
One aspect of neighbourly love is that we must not merely will our neighbours good, but actually work to bring it about.
Thomas Aquinas -
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