Thomas Aquinas Quotes

To pretend angels do not exist because they are invisible is to believe we never sleep because we don't see ourselves sleeping.

He who is not angry when there is just cause for anger is immoral.

Why? Because anger looks to the good of justice. And if you can live amid injustice without anger, you are immoral as well as unjust.

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

The things that we love tell us what we are.

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.

If you can live amid injustice without anger, you are immoral as well as unjust.

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

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

Grant me, O Lord my God, a mind to know you, a heart to seek you, wisdom to find you, conduct pleasing to you, faithful perseverance in waiting for you, and a hope of finally embracing you. Amen.

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

In the life of the body a man is sometimes sick, and unless he takes medicine, he will die. Even so in the spiritual life a man is sick on account of sin. For that reason he needs medicine so that he may be restored to health; and this grace is bestowed in the Sacrament of Penance.

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

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

The celebration of Holy Mass is as valuable as the death of Jesus on the cross.

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

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

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.

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.

Miracles are signs not to them that believe, but to them that believe not.

Whatever a man has in superabundance is owed, of natural right, to the poor for their sustenance. So Ambrosius says, and it is also to be found in the Decretum Gratiani: The bread which you withhold belongs to the hungry: the clothing you shut away, to the naked: and the money you bury in the earth is the redemption and freedom of the penniless.

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.

Happiness is secured through virtue; it is a good attained by man's own will.

To love God is something greater than to know Him.

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

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.

Of all the pursuits open to men, the search for wisdom is most perfect, more sublime, more profitable, and more full of joy.

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

When the devil is called the god of this world, it is not because he made it, but because we serve him with our worldliness.

Whatever a man has in superabundance is owed, of natural right, to the poor for their sustenance.

The Cross to me is certain salvation.

The Cross is that which I ever adore. The Cross of the Lord is with me. The Cross is my refuge.

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

For in order that man may do well, whether in the works of the active life, or in those of the contemplative life, he needs the fellowship of friends.

Angels transcend every religion, every philosophy, every creed.

In fact Angels have no religion as we know it... Their existence precedes every religious system that has ever existed on Earth.

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.

Every judgement of conscience, be it right or wrong, be it about things evil in themselves or morally indifferent, is obligatory, in such wise that he who acts against his conscience always sins.

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

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

Human salvation demands the divine disclosure of truths surpassing reason.

All my words are but chaff next to the faith of a simple man.

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

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.

Without sanctifying grace it is not possible to refrain long from mortal sin.

Not everything that is more difficult is more meritorious.

Mercy without justice is the mother of dissolution; justice without mercy is cruelty.

One cannot use an evil action with reference to a good intention.

Better to illuminate than merely to shine.

There can be no joy in living without joy in work.

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

The theologian considers sin mainly as an offence against God;

the moral philosopher as contrary to reasonableness.

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.