Quotes from St. 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.
- St. Thomas Aquinas
If, then, you are looking for the way by which you should go, take Christ, because He Himself is the way.
- St. Thomas Aquinas
The same fire" (which he decides to be material) " torments the damned in hell and the just in purgatory...The least pain in purgatory exceeds the greatest in this life.
- St. Thomas Aquinas
A man has free choice to the extent that he is rational.
- St. Thomas Aquinas
Distinctions drawn by the mind are not necessarily equivalent to distinctions in reality.
- St. Thomas Aquinas
One cannot use an evil action with reference to a good intention.
- St. Thomas Aquinas
In order for a war to be just, three things are necessary. First, the authority of the sovereign. Secondly, a just cause. Thirdly, a rightful intention.
- St. Thomas Aquinas
Man cannot live without joy; therefore when he is deprived of true spiritual joys it is necessary that he become addicted to carnal pleasures.
- St. Thomas Aquinas
Just as it is better to illuminate than merely to shine, so to pass on what one has contemplated is better than merely to contemplate.
- St. Thomas Aquinas
Sure, for all our blindness; secure, for all our helplessness; strong, for all our weakness; gaily in love, for all the pressures on our hearts.
- St. Thomas Aquinas
Music is the exaltation of the mind derived from things eternal, bursting forth in sound.
- St. Thomas Aquinas
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.
- St. Thomas Aquinas