Quotes By 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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

The things that we love tell us what we are.

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.

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

Law; an ordinance of reason for the common good, made by him who has care of the community.

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

Love is a binding force, by which another is joined to me and cherished by myself.

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

Three conditions are necessary for Penance: contrition, which is sorrow for sin, together with a purpose of amendment; confession of sins without any omission; and satisfaction by means of good works.

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

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

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

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

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