Thomas Aquinas

Most men seem to live according to sense rather than reason.
– Thomas Aquinas

The person who accepts the Church as an infallible guide will believe whatever the Church teaches.
– Thomas Aquinas

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.
– Thomas Aquinas

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.
– Thomas Aquinas

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

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

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

Beware the man of one book.
– Thomas Aquinas

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.
– Thomas Aquinas

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

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

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

Wonder is the desire for knowledge.
– Thomas Aquinas

Happiness is secured through virtue; it is a good attained by man’s own will.
– Thomas Aquinas

Love takes up where knowledge leaves off.
– Thomas Aquinas

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

There is nothing on this earth more to be prized than true friendship.
– Thomas Aquinas

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.
– Thomas Aquinas

The things that we love tell us what we are.
– Thomas Aquinas

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

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

Because we cannot know what God is, but only what He is not, we cannot consider how He is but only how He is not.
– Thomas Aquinas

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.
– Thomas Aquinas

The theologian considers sin mainly as an offence against God; the moral philosopher as contrary to reasonableness.
– Thomas Aquinas

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

Love must precede hatred, and nothing is hated save through being contrary to a suitable thing which is loved. And hence it is that every hatred is caused by love.
– Thomas Aquinas

Human salvation demands the divine disclosure of truths surpassing reason.
– Thomas Aquinas

The end of all my labors has come. All that I have written appears to me as much straw after the things that have been revealed to me.
– Thomas Aquinas

Peace is the work of justice indirectly, in so far as justice removes the obstacles to peace; but it is the work of charity directly, since charity, according to its very notion, causes peace.
– Thomas Aquinas

Rarely affirm, seldom deny, always distinguish.
– Thomas Aquinas

Good can exist without evil, whereas evil cannot exist without good.
– Thomas Aquinas

The study of philosophy is not that we may know what men have thought, but what the truth of things is.
– 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

To convert somebody, go and take them by the hand and guide them.
– Thomas Aquinas

Obedience unites us so closely to God that it in a way transforms us into Him, so that we have no other will but His. If obedience is lacking, even prayer cannot be pleasing to God.
– Thomas Aquinas

Temperance is simply a disposition of the mind which binds the passion.
– Thomas Aquinas

There would not be a perfect likeness of God in the universe if all things were of one grade of being.
– Thomas Aquinas

To love God is something greater than to know Him.
– Thomas Aquinas

Distinctions drawn by the mind are not necessarily equivalent to distinctions in reality.
– Thomas Aquinas

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.
– Thomas Aquinas

Whatever is received is received according to the nature of the recipient.
– Thomas Aquinas

Well-ordered self-love is right and natural.
– Thomas Aquinas