Best 265 quotes of Thomas Aquinas on MyQuotes

Affirmative precepts are distinguished from negative whenever one is not comprised in the other; thus, that of honoring parents does not comprise that of not killing, and vice versa.

All men are equal in nature, and also in original sin. It is in the merits and demerits of their actions that they differ.

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

All the efforts of the human mind cannot exhaust the essence of a single fly.

A man does not always choose what his guardian angel intends.

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

An act of love always tends towards two things; to the good that one wills, and to the person for whom one wills it.

An angel can illumine the thought and mind of man by strengthening the power of vision and by bringing within his reach some truth which the angel himself contemplates.

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.

Anything done against faith or conscience is sinful.

A person is disposed to an act of choice by an angel ... in two ways. Sometimes, a man's understanding is enlightened by an angel to know what is good, but it is not instructed as to the reason why ... But sometimes he is instructed by angelic illumination, both that this act is good and as to the reason why it is good.

A scrap of knowledge about sublime things is worth more than any amount about trivialities.

As mariners are guided into port by the shining of a star, so Christians are guided to heaven by Mary.

A song is the exultation of the mind dwelling on eternal things, bursting forth in the voice.

As regards the individual nature, woman is defective and misbegotten, for the active power of the male seed tends to the production of a perfect likeness in the masculine sex; while the production of a woman comes from defect in the active power.

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

A thing is lovable according as it is good. But God is infinite good. Therefore He is infinitely lovable.

Baptism is not to be conferred on a man who is unwilling to give up his other sins, so neither should Baptism be given to one who is unwilling to renounce his unbelief. Nevertheless, each of them receives the Sacrament if it is conferred on him, although not unto salvation.

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

Baptism is the Sacrament of Faith. Now, dead faith does not suffice for salvation .. .Therefore, the Sacrament of Baptism cannot give salvation to a man whose will ... expels the form of faith.

Beauty adds to goodness a relation to the cognitive faculty: so that "good" means that which simply pleases the appetite; while the "beautiful" is something pleasant to apprehend.

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.

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.

Because the divine goodness could not be adequately represented by one creature alone, God produced many and diverse creatures, that what was wanting in one in the representation of the divine goodness might be supplied by another. For goodness, which in God is simple and uniform, in creatures is manifold and divided. Thus the whole universe together participates in the divine goodness more perfectly and represents it better than any single creature.

Behold our refutation of the error. It is not based on documents of faith, but on the reasons and statements of the philosophers themselves. If then anyone there be who, boastfully taking pride in his supposed wisdom, wishes to challenge what we have written, let him not do it in some corner nor before children who are powerless to decide on such difficult matters. Let him reply openly if he dare. He shall find me there confronting him, and not only my negligible self, but many another whose study is truth.

Being born he have himself as our Companion, Eating with us he gave himself as Food, Dying He became our Ransom, Reigning he gives himself as our Reward

Bestow upon me, O Lord my God, understanding to know thee, diligence to seek thee, wisdom to find thee, and a faithfulness that may finally embrace thee.

Beware of the person of one book.

Beware the man of a single book.

But man is freer than all the animals, on account of his free-will, with which he is endowed above all other animals.

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

By the divine providence [animals] are intended for man's use... Hence it is not wrong for man to make use of them, either by killing or in any other way whatsoever.

Characteristics which define beauty are wholeness, harmony and radiance.

Charity, by which God and neighbor are loved, is the most perfect friendship.

Charity is not a potency of the soul, because if it were it would be natural. Nor is it a passion, because it is not in a sensitive potency in which are all passions. Nor is it a habit, because a habit is removed with difficulty; charity, however, is easily lost through one act of mortal sin. Therefore charity is not something created in the soul.

Charity is the form, mover, mother and root of all the virtues.

Christ was either liar, lunatic, or Lord!

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

Commemoration of Gilbert of Sempringham, Founder of the Gilbertine Order, 1189 Some there are who presume so far on their wits that they think themselves capable of measuring the whole nature of things by their intellect, in that they esteem all things true which they see, and false which they see not. Accordingly, in order that man's mind might be freed from this presumption, and seek the truth humbly, it was necessary that certain things far surpassing his intellect should be proposed to man by God.

Concerning perfect blessedness which consists in a vision of God.

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

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

Don't ask who said it? Ask what they said.

Down in adoration falling, Lo! the sacred Host we hail; Lo! o'er ancient forms departing, Newer rites of grace prevail; Faith for all defects supplying, Where the feeble senses fail.

Eternity is called whole, not because it has parts, but because it is lacking in nothing.

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.

Every cell in us worships God.

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.

Every truth without exception- and whoever may utter it- is from the Holy Spirit.

Evil denotes the lack of good. Not every absence of good is an evil, for absence may be taken either in a purely negative or in aprivative sense. Mere negation does not display the character of evil, otherwise nonexistents would be evil and moreover, a thing would be evil for not possessing the goodness of something else, which would mean that man is bad for not having the strength of a lion or the speed of a wild goat. But what is evil is privation; in this sense blindness means the privation of sight.