Thomas Aquinas Quotes

Wonder is the desire of knowledge.

Since faith rests upon infallible truth, and since the contrary of a truth can never be demonstrated, it is clear that the arguments brought against faith cannot be demonstrations, but are difficulties that can be answered.

Art is right reason in the doing of work.

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.

Now this relaxation of the mind from work consists on playful words or deeds. Therefore it becomes a wise and virtuous man to have recourse to such things at times.

Love follows knowledge.

The meaning of what is said is according to the motive for saying it: because things are not subject to speech, but speech to things. Therefore we should take account of the motive of the lawgiver, rather than of his very words.

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

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

God has no need for our worship. It is we who need to show our gratitude for what we have received.

Love takes up where knowledge leaves off.

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

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

Better to illuminate than merely to shine.

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.

We are like children, who stand in need of masters to enlighten us and direct us; God has provided for this, by appointing his angels to be our teachers and guides.

No man truly has joy unless he lives in love.

Given the sin of impiety through which they [the Romans] sinned against the divine nature [by idolatry], the punishment that led them to sin against their own nature followed.... I say, therefore, that since they changed into lies [by idolatry] the truth about God, He brought them to ignominious passions, that is, to sins against nature; not that God led them to evil, but only that he abandoned them to evil.

The greatest kindness one can render to any man consists in leading him from error to truth.

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.

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

Law has the power to compel: indeed, the ability to enforce is a condition of the ability to command.

Christ was either liar, lunatic, or Lord!

Sloth is sluggishness of the mind which neglects to begin good...it is evil in its effect, if it so oppresses man as to draw him away entirely from good deeds.

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.

One aspect of neighbourly love is that we must not merely will our neighbours good, but actually work to bring it about.

Beware the man of a single book.

As the saints will rejoice in all goods, so will the damned grieve for all goods.

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

The last end of every maker, as such, is himself, for what we make we use for our own sake; and if at any time a man make a thing for the sake of something else, it is referred to his own good, whether his use, his pleasure, or his virtue.

This Blood that but one drop of has the power to win all the world forgiveness of its world of sin.

Beware of the person of one book.

Arrive at knowledge over small streamlets, and do not plunge immediately into the ocean, since progress must go from the easier to the more difficult.

The Angel's bread is made the Bread of man today.

The light of faith makes us see what we believe.

He who achieves power by violence does not truly become lord or master.

Do not wish to jump immediately from the streams to the sea, because one has to go through easier things to the more difficult.

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

A man's heart is right when he wills what God wills.

Devotion is a certain act of the will by which man gives himself promptly to divine service.

Good and evil are essential differences of the act of the will. For good and evil pertain essentially to the will; just as truth and falsehood pertain to the reason, the act of which is distinguished essentially by the difference of truth and falsehood (according as we say that an opinion is true or false.) Consequently, good and evil volition are acts differing in species.

Likewise grace and glory are referred to the same genus, since grace is nothing other than a certain first beginning of glory in us.

We should love others truly, for their own sakes rather than our own.

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

Humility is the mark of a genuine disciple.

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

Theology is taught by God, teaches God, and leads to God.

We set forth our petitions before God, not in order to make known to Him our needs and desires, but rather so that we ourselves may realize that in these things it is necessary to turn to God for help.