Thomas Aquinas Quotes
-
Of all the pursuits open to men, the search for wisdom is most perfect, more sublime, more profitable, and more full of joy.
-
The soul, which is the first principle of life, is not a body, but the act of a body; just as heat, which is the principle of calefaction, is not a body, but an act of a body.
-
There must be must be a first mover existing above all – and this we call God.
-
Even as he would be guilty of falsehood who would, in the name of another person, proffer things that are not committed to him, so too does a man incur the guilt of falsehood who, on the part of the Church, gives worship to God contrary to the manner established by the Church or divine authority, and according to ecclesiastical custom.
-
This Blood that but one drop of has the power to win all the world forgiveness of its world of sin.
-
The soul is perfected by knowledge and virtue.
-
It seems that God does not exist; because if one of two contraries be infinite, the other would be altogether destroyed. But the word "God" means that He is infinite goodness. If, therefore, God existed, there would be no evil discoverable; but there is evil in the world. Therefore God does not exist.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
Pain itself can be pleasurable accidentally in so far as it is accompanied by wonder, as in stage – plays; or in so far as it recalls a beloved object to one's memory, and makes one feel one's love for the thing, whose absence gives us pain. Consequently, since love is pleasant, both pain and whatever else results from love, in so far as they remind us of our love, are pleasant.
-
God has no need for our worship. It is we who need to show our gratitude for what we have received.
-
Any error about creation also leads to an error about God.
-
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.
-
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.
-
Nothing which implies contradiction falls under the omnipotence of God.
-
Venial sin becomes mortal sin when one approves it as an end. . .
-
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.
-
The happy man in this life needs friends.
-
Grace renders us like God and a partaker of the divine nature.
-
To live well is to work well, to show a good activity.
-
One aspect of neighbourly love is that we must not merely will our neighbours good, but actually work to bring it about.
-
Future contingents cannot be certain to us, because we know them as such. They can be certain only to God whose understanding is in eternity above time. Just as a man going along a road does not see those who come after him; but the man who sees the whole road from a height sees all those who are going along the road at the same time.
-
No man truly has joy unless he lives in love.