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