Thomas Aquinas Quotes - Page 2

Wonder is the desire of knowledge.

True peace consists in not separating ourselves from the will of God.

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.

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

We should love others truly, for their own sakes rather than our own.

No man truly has joy unless he lives in love.

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

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

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

He (Mohammed) seduced the people by promises of carnal pleasure to which the concupiscence of the flesh urges us. His teaching also contained precepts that were in conformity with his promises, and he gave free rein to carnal pleasure. In all this, as is not unexpected; he was obeyed by carnal men. As for proofs of the truth of his doctrine, he brought forward only such as could be grasped by the natural ability of anyone with a very modest wisdom. Indeed, the truths that he taught he mingled with many fables and with doctrines of the greatest falsity.

It is not possible to be ignorant of the end of things if we know their beginning.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

To restore man, who had been laid low by sin, to the heights of divine glory, the Word of the eternal Father, though containing all things within His immensity, willed to become small. This He did not by putting aside His greatness but by taking to Himself our littleness.

Most men seem to live according to sense rather than reason.

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

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

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

The highest perfection of human life consists in the mind of man being detached from care, for the sake of God.

He who is dying of hunger must be fed rather than taught.

The light of faith makes us see what we believe.