59 Thomas Aquinas Quotes

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

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

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

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.

Far graver is it to corrupt the faith that is the life of the soul than to counterfeit the money that sustains temporal life.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

Man should not consider his material possession his own, but as common to all, so as to share them without hesitation when others are in need.

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

Good can exist without evil, whereas evil cannot exist without good.

It is clear that he does not pray, who, far from uplifting himself to God, requires that God shall lower Himself to him, and who resorts to prayer not to stir the man in us to will what God wills, but only to persuade God to will what the man in us wills.

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

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.

Love takes up where knowledge leaves off.

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.

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

In order for a war to be just, three things are necessary. First, the authority of the sovereign. Secondly, a just cause. Thirdly, a rightful intention.

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

Justice is a certain rectitude of mind whereby a man does what he ought to do in the circumstances confronting him.

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.

Human salvation demands the divine disclosure of truths surpassing reason.

For loving draws us more to things than knowing does, since good is found by going to the thing, whereas the true is found when the thing comes to us.

Wonder is the desire for knowledge.

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

If forgers and malefactors are put to death by the secular power, there is much more reason for excommunicating and even putting to death one convicted of heresy.

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.

Beware of the person of one book.

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

Reason in man is rather like God in the world.

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

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

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

To teach in order to lead others to faith is the task of every preacher and of each believer.

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

Temperance is simply a disposition of the mind which binds the passions.

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

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.

Whatever is received is received according to the nature of the recipient.

Perfection of moral virtue does not wholly take away the passions, but regulates them.

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

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

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.

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.

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

When fear is excessive it can make many a man despair.

As a matter of honor, one man owes it to another to manifest the truth.

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