59 Quotes & Sayings By Thomas Aquinas

Thomas Aquinas was a theologian, philosopher, and author who lived in Rome in the thirteenth century. He is most famous for his seven texts of theology, known as the "Summa Theologica", which are among the most influential works of Western philosophy. Thomas Aquinas taught that God is the highest being, that material things are not ultimately real or eternal, that humans are made in God's image and have souls, and that God is everywhere present in all things.

The soul is like an uninhabited worldthat comes to life...
1
The soul is like an uninhabited worldthat comes to life only when God lays His headagainst us. Thomas Aquinas
Better to illuminate than merely to shine to deliver to...
2
Better to illuminate than merely to shine to deliver to others contemplated truths than merely to contemplate. Thomas Aquinas
The Study of philosophy is not that we may know...
3
The Study of philosophy is not that we may know what men have thought, but what the truth of things is. Thomas Aquinas
4
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
5
Causes of individuals presuppose causes of the species, which are not univocal yet not wholly equivocal either, since they are expressing themselves in their effects. We could call them analogical. In language too all universal terms presuppose the non-univocal analogical use of the term *being*. Thomas Aquinas
6
For every relationship involves two related terms. Sometimes relationships are not real in either term, but arise from the way we think of the terms: we think identity, for example, by thinking one thing twice over and relating it to itself; and occasionally we relate what exists to what does not exist, or generate purely logical relations like that of genus to species. Sometimes relationships are real in both terms: grounded in the quantity of both, in the case of relationships like big/small or double/half, or in their activity and passivity, in the case of causal relationships, like mover-moved and father/son. Sometimes relationships are real in only one of the terms, with the other merely thought of as related [reciprocally] to that one; and this happens whenever the two terms exist at different levels. Thus seeing and understanding really relates us to things, but being seen and understood by us is not something real in the things; and similarly a pillar to the right of us does not itself have a left and a right. Thomas Aquinas
7
God is not, like creatures, made up of parts. God is spirit, without bodily dimensions. Firstly, no body can cause change without itself being changed. Secondly, things with dimensions are potential of division. But the starting-point for all existence must be wholly real and not potential in any way: though things that get realized begin as potential, preceding them is the source of their realization which must already be real. Thirdly, living bodies are superior to other bodies; and what makes a body living is not the dimensions which make it a body (for then everything with dimensions would be living), but something more excellent like a soul. The most excellent existent of all then cannot be a body. So when the scriptures ascribe dimensions to God they are using spatial extension to symbolize the extent of God's power; just as they ascribe bodily organs to God as metaphors for their functions, and postures like sitting or standing to symbolize authority or strength. Thomas Aquinas
8
*There is only one God*. Whatever exists is *ipso facto* individual; to be one it needs no extra property and calling it one merely denies that it is divided. Simple things are neither divided nor divisible; composite things do not exist when their parts are divided. So existence stands or falls with individuality, and things guard their unity as they do their existence. But what is simply speaking one can yet in certain respects be many: an individual thing, essentially undivided, can have many non-essential properties; and a single whole, actually undivided, can have potentially many parts. Only when one is used to count with does it presuppose in what it counts some extra property over and above existence, namely, quantity. The one we count with contrasts with the many it counts in the way a unity of measurement contrasts with what it measures; but the individual unity common to everything that exists contrasts with plurality simply by lacking it, as undividedness does division. A plurality is however *a* plurality: though simply speaking many, inasmuch as it exists, it is, incidentally, one. A continuum is homogeneous: its parts share the form of the whole (every bit of water is water); but a plurality is heterogeneous: its parts lack the form of the whole (no part of the house is a house). The parts of a plurality are unities and non-plural, though they compose the plurality not as non-plural but as existing; just as the parts of a house compose the house as material, not as not houses. Whereas we define plurality in terms of unity (many things are divided things to each of which is ascribed unity), we define unity in terms of division. For division precedes unity in our minds even if it doesn’t really do so, since we conceive simple things by denying compositeness of them, defining a point, for example, as lacking dimension. Division arises in the mind simply by negating existence. So the first thing we conceive is the existent, then―seeing that this existent is not that existent―we conceive division, thirdly unity, and fourthly plurality. There is only one God. Firstly, God and his nature are identical: to be God is to be this individual God. In the same way, if to be a man was to be Socrates there would only be one man, just as there was only one Socrates. Moreover, God’s perfection is unlimited, so what could differentiate one God from another? Any extra perfection in one would be lacking in the other and that would make him imperfect. And finally, the world is one, and plurality can only produce unity incidentally insofar as it too is somehow one: the primary and non-incidental source of unity in the universe must himself be one. The one we count with measures only material things, not God: like all objects of mathematics, though defined without reference to matter, it can exist only in matter. But the unity of individuality common to everything that exists is a metaphysical property applying both to non-material things and to God. But what in God is a perfection has to be conceived by us, with our way of understanding things, as a lack: that is why we talk of God as lacking a body, lacking limits and lacking division. . Thomas Aquinas
9
What causes love, since it is a passion, is its object; and since it is a sort of affinity or agreement with the object, what causes love is the goodness or agreeableness of that object. Evil can only be loved because it seems good, because being partially good it is perceived as wholly so. And the beautiful is a form of the good: if something is agreeable in general we call it good, and if the perception of it is agreeable we call it beautiful. But goodness must be known before it can become the object of love, so knowledge itself can be said to cause love. Knowing is an activity of reason, which abstracts from things and then makes connections between them, needing to know each part and property and power of things if it is to know them perfectly. But loving is an appetite for things as they stand, and to love perfectly we need only love them as they are perceived to exist in themselves. Thomas Aquinas
10
The emotion of love is an affective emotion, directly reacting to goodness, rather than an aggressive one, reacting to challenge. Not only our so-called natural ability to grow and propagate exemplify natural love, but every faculty has a built-in affinity for what accords with its nature. By passion we mean some result of being acted on: either a form induced by the agent (like weight) or a movement consequent on the form (like falling to the ground). Whatever we desire acts on us in this way, first arousing an emotional attachment to itself and making itself agreeable, and then drawing us to seek it. The first change the object produces in our appetite is a feeling of its agreeableness: we call this love (weight can be thought of as a sort of natural love); then desire moves us to seek the object and pleasure comes to rest in it. Clearly then, as a change induced in us by an agent, love is a passion: the affective emotion strictly so, the will to love by stretching of the term. Love unites by making what is loved as agreeable to the lover as if it were himself or a part of himself. Though love is not itself a movement of the appetite towards an object, it is a change the appetite undergoes rendering an object agreeable. Favour is a freely chosen and willing love, open only to reasoning creatures; and charity―literally, holding dear―is a perfect form of love in which what is loved is highly prized. To love, as Aristotle says, is to want someone’s good; so its object is twofold: the good we want, loved with a love of desire, and the someone we want it for (ourselves or someone else), loved with a love of friendship. And just as what exist in the primary sense are subjects of existence, and properties exist only in a secondary sense, as modes in which subjects exist; so too what we love in the primary sense is the someone whose good we will, and only in a secondary sense do we love the good so willed. Friendship based on convenience or pleasure is friendship inasmuch as we want our friend’s good; but because this is subordinated to our own profit or pleasure such friendship is subordinated to love of desire and falls short of true friendship. Thomas Aquinas
I receive Thee ransom of my soul. For love of...
11
I receive Thee ransom of my soul. For love of Thee have I studied and kept vigil toiled preached and taught… Thomas Aquinas
Reason in man is rather like God in the world.
12
Reason in man is rather like God in the world. Thomas Aquinas
A song is the exultation of the mind dwelling on...
13
A song is the exultation of the mind dwelling on eternal things, bursting forth in the voice. Thomas Aquinas
To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To...
14
To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible. Thomas Aquinas
15
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
Grant me, O Lord my God, a mind to know...
16
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. Thomas Aquinas
The blessed in the kingdom of heaven will see the...
17
The blessed in the kingdom of heaven will see the punishments of the damned, in order that their bliss be more delightful for them. Thomas Aquinas
19
Give us, O Lord, a steadfast heart, which no unworthy affection may drag downwards; give us an unconquered heart, which no tribulation can wear out; give us an upright heart, which no unworthy purpose may tempt aside. Bestow upon us also, O Lord our God, understanding to know you, diligence to seek you, wisdom to find you, and a faithfulness that may finally embrace you; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Thomas Aquinas
20
Creator of all things, true source of light and wisdom, origin of all being, graciously let a ray of your light penetrate the darkness of my understanding. Take from me the double darkness in which I have been born, an obscurity of sin and ignorance. Give me a keen understanding, a retentive memory, and the ability to grasp things correctly and fundamentally. Grant me the talent of being exact in my explanations and the ability to express myself with thoroughness and charm. Point out the beginning, direct the progress, and help in the completion. Thomas Aquinas
21
God loves his creatures, and he loves each one the more, the more it shares his own goodness, which is the first and primary object of his love. Therefore he wants the desires of his rational creatures to be fulfilled because they share most perfectly of all creatures the goodness of god. And his will is an accomplisher of things because he is the cause of things by his will. So it belongs to the divine goodness to fulfill the desires of rational creatures which are put to him in prayer. . Thomas Aquinas
22
Friendship makes you feel as one with your friend. Thomas Aquinas
23
God is never angry for His sake, only for ours. Thomas Aquinas
24
It must be said that charity can, in no way, exist along with mortal sin. Thomas Aquinas
25
Beware the man of a single book. Thomas Aquinas
26
If forgers and malefactors are put to death by the secular power, there is much more reason for excommunicating and even putting to death one convicted of heresy. Thomas Aquinas
27
Friendship is the source of the greatest pleasures, and without friends even the most agreeable pursuits become tedious. Thomas Aquinas
28
A man has free choice to the extent that he is rational. Thomas Aquinas
29
A man has free choice to the extent that he is rational Thomas Aquinas
30
Nothing which implies contradiction falls under the omnipotence of God. Thomas Aquinas
31
The study of truth requires a considerable effort - which is why few are willing to undertake it out of love of knowledge - despite the fact that God has implanted a natural appetite for such knowledge in the minds of men. Thomas Aquinas
32
If the highest aim of a captain were to preserve his ship, he would keep it in port forever. Thomas Aquinas
33
If you are looking for the way by which you should go, take Christ, because he himself is the way. Thomas Aquinas
34
If you want to be saved look at the face of your Christ. Thomas Aquinas
35
If you want to be saved look the face of your Christ. Thomas Aquinas
36
It is not theft, properly speaking, to take secretly and use another's property in a case of extreme need: because that which he takes for the support of his life becomes his own property by reason of that need Thomas Aquinas
37
Angels need an assumed body, not for themselves, but on our account. Thomas Aquinas
38
Faith has to do with things that are not seen and hope with things that are not at hand. Thomas Aquinas
39
The things that we love tell us what we are. Thomas Aquinas
40
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
41
Love takes up where knowledge leaves off. Thomas Aquinas
42
Whatever is received is received according to the nature of the recipient. Thomas Aquinas
43
By nature all men are equal in liberty, but not in other endowments. Thomas Aquinas
44
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. Thomas Aquinas
45
Moral science is better occupied when treating of friendship than of justice. Thomas Aquinas
46
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. Thomas Aquinas
47
Happiness is secured through virtue it is a good attained by man's own will. Thomas Aquinas
48
If, then, you are looking for the way by which you should go, take Christ, because He Himself is the way. Thomas Aquinas
49
Sorrow can be alleviated by good sleep, a bath and a glass of wine. Thomas Aquinas
50
Good can exist without evil, whereas evil cannot exist without good. Thomas Aquinas
51
Law is nothing other than a certain ordinance of reason for the common good, promulgated by the person who has the care of the community. Thomas Aquinas
52
It is clear that he does not pray, who, far from uplifting himself to God, requires that God shall lower Himself to him, and who resorts to prayer not to stir the man in us to will what God wills, but only to persuade God to will what the man in us wills. Thomas Aquinas
53
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. Thomas Aquinas
54
Wonder is the desire for knowledge. Thomas Aquinas
55
The knowledge of God is the cause of things. For the knowledge of God is to all creatures what the knowledge of the artificer is to things made by his art. Thomas Aquinas
56
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
57
The principal act of courage is to endure and withstand dangers doggedly rather than to attack them. Thomas Aquinas
58
Hold firmly that our faith is identical with that of the ancients. Deny this, and you dissolve the unity of the Church. Thomas Aquinas