Thomas Aquinas Quotes

The things that we love tell us what we are.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

To love is to will the good of the other.

Nothing created has ever been able to fill the heart of man. God alone can fill it infinitely.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

The light of faith makes us see what we believe.

It is only God who creates. Man merely rearranges.

Faith has to do with things that are not seen and hope with things that are not at hand.

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

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.

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.

Better to illuminate than merely to shine; to deliver to others contemplated truths than merely to contemplate.

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

Believing is an act of the intellect assenting to the divine truth by command of the will moved by God through grace.

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

Better to illuminate than merely to shine.

Mary means Star of the sea, for as mariners are guided to port by the ocean star, so Christians attain to glory through Mary's maternal intercession.

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.

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

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.

Human salvation demands the divine disclosure of truths surpassing reason.