Thomas Aquinas Quotes (104 quotes) | Quotes of famous people

Summa Contra Gentiles, III,69,15
Context: 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.

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“On the contrary, The demons are ever assailing us, according to 1 Peter 5:8: "Your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about, seeking whom he may devour." Much more therefore do the good angels ever guard us”

Thomas Aquinas book Summa Theologica

Summa Theologica (1265–1274)
Context: Whether the angel guardian ever forsakes a man?... It would seem that the angel guardian sometimes forsakes the man whom he is appointed to guard... On the contrary, The demons are ever assailing us, according to 1 Peter 5:8: "Your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about, seeking whom he may devour." Much more therefore do the good angels ever guard us... the guardianship of the angels is an effect of Divine providence in regard to man. Now it is evident that neither man, nor anything at all, is entirely withdrawn from the providence of God: for in as far as a thing participates being, so far is it subject to the providence that extends over all being.

I, q. 113, art. 6

Angels

“Three things are necessary for man to be saved: knowledge of what is to be believed, knowledge of what is to be desired, and knowledge of what is to be done.”

Thomas Aquinas

Two Precepts of Charity (1273)
Sermons on the Ten Commandments (Collationes in decem praeceptes, c. 1273), Prologue (opening sentence)
Variant translation: 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.
Original: (la) Tria sunt homini necessaria ad salutem: scilicit scientia credendorum, scientia desiderandorum, et scientia operandorum.

“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.”

Thomas Aquinas

Fear , Heart

Thomas Aquinas Quotes

“Of these the first is "melting," which is opposed to freezing. For things that are frozen, are closely bound together, so as to be hard to pierce. But it belongs to love that the appetite is fitted to receive the good which is loved, inasmuch as the object loved is in the lover…Consequently the freezing or hardening of the heart is a disposition incompatible with love: while melting denotes a softening of the heart, whereby the heart shows itself to be ready for the entrance of the beloved.”

Thomas Aquinas book Summa Theologica

I-II, q. 28, art. 5
Summa Theologica (1265–1274)
Context: it is to be observed that four proximate effects may be ascribed to love: viz. melting, enjoyment, languor, and fervor. Of these the first is "melting," which is opposed to freezing. For things that are frozen, are closely bound together, so as to be hard to pierce. But it belongs to love that the appetite is fitted to receive the good which is loved, inasmuch as the object loved is in the lover... Consequently the freezing or hardening of the heart is a disposition incompatible with love: while melting denotes a softening of the heart, whereby the heart shows itself to be ready for the entrance of the beloved.

Love , Lovers , Heart

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

Thomas Aquinas

Sleep , Wine

“It would be better if they [rulers] compelled the Jews to work for their living, as they do in parts of Italy, than that, living without occupation, they can grow rich only by usury”

Thomas Aquinas

solis usuris ditentur
Source: On the Governance of the Jews (c. 1263–1265) art. 2

Parting

“God alone can satisfy the will of a human being.”

Thomas Aquinas book Summa Theologica

I–II, q. 2, art. 8
Summa Theologica (1265–1274)
Context: Now the object of the will, i. e., of man's appetite, is the universal good... Hence it is evident that nothing can lull the human will but the universal good. This is to be found, not in any creature, but in God alone; because every creature has goodness by participation. Thus God alone can satisfy the will of a human being.

God

“For although the will cannot be inwardly moved by any creature, yet it can be moved inwardly by God.”

Thomas Aquinas book Summa Theologica

III, q. 18, art. 1, ad 1
Summa Theologica (1265–1274)
Context: Whatever was in the human nature of Christ was moved at the bidding of the divine will; yet it does not follow that in Christ there was no movement of the will proper to human nature, for the good wills of other saints are moved by God's will... For although the will cannot be inwardly moved by any creature, yet it can be moved inwardly by God.

God

“Therefore they will wish all the good were damned.”

Thomas Aquinas book Summa Theologica

Supplement, Q98, Article 4
Note: This Supplement to the Third Part was compiled after Aquinas's death by Regnald of Piperno, out of material from Aquinas's much earlier "Commentary on the Sentences".
Summa Theologica (1265–1274)
Context: Even as in the blessed in heaven there will be most perfect charity, so in the damned there will be the most perfect hate. Wherefore as the saints will rejoice in all goods, so will the damned grieve for all goods. Consequently the sight of the happiness of the saints will give them very great pain; hence it is written (Isaiah 26:11): "Let the envious people see and be confounded, and let fire devour Thy enemies." Therefore they will wish all the good were damned.

“Thus Angels' Bread is made
The Bread of man today:
The Living Bread from Heaven
With figures doth away”

Thomas Aquinas

Sacris Solemniis Juncta Sint Gaudia (Matins hymn for Corpus Christi), stanza 6 (Panis Angelicus)
Context: Thus Angels' Bread is made
The Bread of man today:
The Living Bread from Heaven
With figures doth away:
O wondrous gift indeed!
The poor and lowly may
Upon their Lord and Master feed.

Angels

“Even as in the blessed in heaven there will be most perfect charity, so in the damned there will be the most perfect hate.”

Thomas Aquinas book Summa Theologica

Hate , Perfection

“Beware the man of a single book.”
Hominem unius libri timeo. / Timeo hominem unius libri.

Thomas Aquinas

As quoted by Leonard Sweet, The Greatest Story Never Told http://books.google.gr/books?id=KuTRcjWL91AC&dq=, section: "The Gift of Lyrics", Abingdon Press, 2012
Variant: "Beware the man of one book."
See also: Homo unius libri
Disputed
Variant: I fear the man of a single book.

Books

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

Thomas Aquinas

Variant: For those with faith, no evidence is necessary; for those without it, no evidence will suffice.

Faith , Faith

“We must love them both, those whose opinions we share and those whose opinions we reject, for both have labored in the search for truth, and both have helped us in finding it.”

Thomas Aquinas

Love , Truth , Search , Help

“Just as it is better to illuminate than merely to shine, so to pass on what one has contemplated is better than merely to contemplate.”

Thomas Aquinas book Summa Theologica

II–II, 188
Original Latin http://www.corpusthomisticum.org/sth3183.html: Sicut enim maius est illuminare quam lucere solum, ita maius est contemplata aliis tradere quam solum contemplari.
Summa Theologica (1265–1274)
Variant: Better to illuminate than merely to shine; to deliver to others contemplated truths than merely to contemplate.

“The Study of philosophy is not that we may know what men have thought, but what the truth of things is.”

Thomas Aquinas

Men , Truth , Study

“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.”

Thomas Aquinas

Way , Lovers

“Wonder is the desire of knowledge.”

Thomas Aquinas

Knowledge

“Most men seem to live according to sense rather than reason.”

Thomas Aquinas

Men , Sense

“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?”

Thomas Aquinas

Men , War , Star

“I would rather feel compassion than know the meaning of it. I would hope to act with compassion without thinking of personal gain.”

Thomas Aquinas

Hope , Feeling , Thinking , Personality

“Rarely affirm, seldom deny, always distinguish.”

Thomas Aquinas

“The truth of our faith becomes a matter of ridicule among the infidels if any Catholic, not gifted with the necessary scientific learning, presents as dogma what scientific scrutiny shows to be false.”

Thomas Aquinas

Truth , Faith , Learning , Falseness

“There must be must be a first mover existing above all – and this we call God.”

Thomas Aquinas

God

“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

Knowledge

“Faith has to do with things that are not seen, and hope with things that are not in hand.”

Thomas Aquinas

Faith , Faith , Hope

“The happy man in this life needs friends.”

Thomas Aquinas

Life , Happiness

“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”

Thomas Aquinas

Life , Support

“Man has free choice, or otherwise counsels, exhortations, commands, prohibitions, rewards and punishments would be in vain.”

Thomas Aquinas

“But if man's affection be one of passion, then it is moved also in regard to other animals: for since the passion of pity is caused by the afflictions of others; and since it happens that even irrational animals are sensible to pain, it is possible for the affection of pity to arise in a man with regard to the sufferings of animals. Now it is evident that if a man practice a pitiful affection for animals, he is all the more disposed to take pity on his fellow-men: wherefore it is written (Prov. 12:10): "The just regardeth the lives of his beasts: but the bowels of the wicked are cruel." Consequently the Lord, in order to inculcate pity to the Jewish people, who were prone to cruelty, wished them to practice pity even with regard to dumb animals, and forbade them to do certain things savoring of cruelty to animals. Hence He prohibited them to "boil a kid in the milk of its dam"; and to "muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn"; and to slay "the dam with her young."”

Thomas Aquinas book Summa Theologica

I-II, q. 102, art. 6 ad. 8
Summa Theologica (1265–1274)

Men , Pain , People , Affliction

“To be united to God in unity of person was not fitting to human flesh, according to its natural endowments, since it was above his dignity; nevertheless, it was fitting that God, by reason of his infinite goodness, should unite it to himself for human salvation.”

Thomas Aquinas book Summa Theologica

Source: Summa Theologica (1265–1274), III, q. 1, art. 2, ad 2

God , Nature , Personality

“The greatness of the human being consists in this: that it is capable of the universe.”

Thomas Aquinas

Source: De Veritate (On Truth) q. 1, art. 2, ad 4

Universe

“Baptism is the door of the spiritual life and the gateway to the sacraments.”

Thomas Aquinas book Summa Theologica

III, q.73, 3
Summa Theologica (1265–1274)

Life

“It is on account neither of God's weakness nor ignorance that evil comes into the world, but rather it is due to the order of his wisdom and the greatness of his goodness that diverse grades of goodness occur in things, many of which would be lacking if no evil were permitted. Indeed, the good of patience would not exist without the evil of persecution; nor the good of preservation of life in a lion if not for the evil of the destruction of the animals on which it lives.”

Thomas Aquinas

De Potentia (On Power) q. 3, art. 6, ad 4

Life , Wisdom , God , World

“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

Commentaria in libros Aristotelis de caelo et mundo

Nature

“Yet if heretics be altogether uprooted by death, this is not contrary to Our Lord's command [in Matthew 13:30], which is to be understood as referring to the case when the cockle [weeds] cannot be plucked up without plucking up the wheat, as we explained above (10, 8, ad 1), when treating of unbelievers in general.”

Thomas Aquinas book Summa Theologica

II–II, q. 11, art. 3, ad. 3
Summa Theologica (1265–1274)

Death

“Reason may be employed in two ways to establish a point: firstly, for the purpose of furnishing sufficient proof of some principle, as in natural science, where sufficient proof can be brought to show that the movement of the heavens is always of uniform velocity. Reason is employed in another way, not as furnishing a sufficient proof of a principle, but as confirming an already established principle, by showing the congruity of its results, as in astrology the theory of eccentrics and epicycles is considered as established, because thereby the sensible appearances of the heavenly movements can be explained; not, however, as if this proof were sufficient, forasmuch as some other theory might explain them.”

Thomas Aquinas book Summa Theologica

I, q. 32, art. 1, reply obj. 2
Summa Theologica (1265–1274)

Way , Nature , Appearance , Science

“All that I have written seems like straw compared to what has now been revealed to me.”

Thomas Aquinas

Remarks on being requested to resume writing, after a mystical experience while saying mass on or around 6 December 1273, as quoted in A Taste of Water : Christianity through Taoist-Buddhist Eyes (1990) by Chwen Jiuan Agnes Lee and Thomas G. Hand
All that I have written seems like straw to me.
As quoted in The Thought of Thomas Aquinas (1993), by Brian Davies, p. 9
Everything I have written seems like straw by comparison with what I have seen and what has been revealed to me.
As quoted in Sacred Games : A History of Christian Worship (1997) by Bernhard Lang, p. 323
Original: (la) Raynalde, non possum, quia omnia quae scripsi videntur mihi palae.