Top 250 Thomas Aquinas Quotes (2024 Update)
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201. “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

202. “It would seem that zeal is not an effect of love. For zeal is a beginning of contention.”

— Thomas Aquinas

203. “For loving draws us more to things than knowing does, since good is found by going to the thing, whereas the true is found when the thing comes to us.”

— Thomas Aquinas

204. “Again, it is self-evident that truth exists. For truth exists if anything at all is true, and if anyone denies that truth exists, he concedes that it is true that it does not exist, since if truth does not exist it is then true that it does not exist.”

— Thomas Aquinas

205. “The world tempts us either by attaching us to it in prosperity, or by filling us with fear of adversity. But faith overcomes this in that we believe in a life to come better than this one, and hence we despise the riches of this world and we are not terrified in the face of adversity.”

— Thomas Aquinas

206. “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?”

— Thomas Aquinas

207. “Affirmative precepts are distinguished from negative whenever one is not comprised in the other; thus, that of honoring parents does not comprise that of not killing, and vice versa.”

— Thomas Aquinas

208. “The happy man in this life needs friends.”

— Thomas Aquinas

209. “Those who are more adapted to the active life can prepare themselves for contemplation in the practice of the active life, while those who are more adapted to the contemplative life can take upon themselves the works of the active life so as to become yet.”

— Thomas Aquinas

210. “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

211. “Law has the power to compel: indeed, the ability to enforce is a condition of the ability to command.”

— Thomas Aquinas

212. “Arrive at knowledge over small streamlets, and do not plunge immediately into the ocean, since progress must go from the easier to the more difficult.”

— Thomas Aquinas

213. “It has become the fashion to talk about Mysticism, even to pose as Mystics, and – need it be said? – those who talk the most on such subjects are those who know the least.”

— Thomas Aquinas

214. “Anger and the like are attributed to God on account of a similitude of effect. Thus, because to punish is properly the act of an angry man, God’s punishment is metaphorically spoken of as His anger.”

— Thomas Aquinas

215. “It must be said that charity can, in no way, exist along with mortal sin.”

— Thomas Aquinas

216. “Justice is in subjects as well as in rulers.”

— Thomas Aquinas

217. “A thing is lovable according as it is good. But God is infinite good. Therefore He is infinitely lovable.”

— Thomas Aquinas

218. “Without sanctifying grace it is not possible to refrain long from mortal sin.”

— Thomas Aquinas

219. “So, to detract from the perfection of creatures is to detract from the perfection of divine power.”

— Thomas Aquinas

220. “The apostles and their successors are God’s vicars in governing the Church which is built on faith and the sacraments of faith. Wherefore, just as they may not institute another Church, so neither may they deliver another faith, nor institute other sacraments.”

— Thomas Aquinas

221. “Many cry to the Lord that they may win riches, that they may avoid losses; they cry that their family may be established, they ask for temporal happiness, for worldly dignities; and, lastly, they cry for bodily health, which is the patrimony of the poor. For these and suchlike things many cry to the Lord; hardly one cries for the Lord Himself! How easy it is for a man to desire all manner of things from the Lord and yet not desire the Lord Himself! As though the gift could be sweeter than the Giver!”

— Thomas Aquinas

222. “Baptism is not to be conferred on a man who is unwilling to give up his other sins, so neither should Baptism be given to one who is unwilling to renounce his unbelief. Nevertheless, each of them receives the Sacrament if it is conferred on him, although not unto salvation.”

— Thomas Aquinas

223. “The person who truly understands love could love anyone.”

— Thomas Aquinas

224. “Sing, my tongue, the Saviour’s glory, Of His Flesh, the mystery sing; Of the Blood, all price exceeding, Shed by our Immortal King, Destined, for the world’s redemption, From a noble Womb to spring.”

— Thomas Aquinas

225. “Concerning perfect blessedness which consists in a vision of God.”

— Thomas Aquinas

226. “It is unlawful to add anything to the words of Holy Scripture regarding the sense.”

— Thomas Aquinas

227. “Even as in heaven there will be most perfect charity, so in hell there will be the most perfect hate.”

— Thomas Aquinas

228. “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.”

— Thomas Aquinas

229. “A man does not always choose what his guardian angel intends.”

— Thomas Aquinas

230. “In deliberation we may hesitate; but a deliberated act must be performed swiftly.”

— Thomas Aquinas

231. “If our opponent believes nothing of divine revelation, there is no longer any means of proving the articles of faith by reasoning, but only of answering his objections – if he has any – against faith. Since faith rests upon infallible truth, and since the contrary of a truth can never be demonstrated, it is clear that the arguments brought against faith cannot be demonstrations, but are difficulties that can be answered.”

— Thomas Aquinas

232. “Gods are called many by the error of some who worshipped many deities, thinking as they did the planets and other stars were gods, and also the separate parts of the world.”

— Thomas Aquinas

233. “The proper task of the Savior is that he is a savior; indeed, for this he came into the world: to seek and save what was lost.”

— Thomas Aquinas

234. “Now in matters of action the reason directs all things in view of the end:.”

— Thomas Aquinas

235. “As the saints will rejoice in all goods, so will the damned grieve for all goods.”

— Thomas Aquinas

236. “Here ’neath veils, my Saviour darkly I behold; To my thirsting spirit all thy light unfold; Face to face in heaven let me come to thee, And the blessed vision of thy glory see.”

— Thomas Aquinas

237. “Practical sciences proceed by building up; theoretical science by resolving into components.”

— Thomas Aquinas

238. “The custom of the Church has very great authority and ought to be jealously observed in all things.”

— Thomas Aquinas

239. “The minister to whom confession is made is the delegate of Christ, Who is the Judge of the living and the dead.”

— Thomas Aquinas

240. “Now it seems that everything in the world stems from sources other than God, since the products of nature have their source in nature; deliberate effects can be traced back to human reason or will as their source. There is no need then to assume that God exists.”

— Thomas Aquinas

241. “The theologian considers sin mainly as an offence against God; the moral philosopher as contrary to reasonableness.”

— Thomas Aquinas

242. “Pipes are not to be used for teaching, nor any artificial instruments, as the harp, or the like: but whatsoever will make the hearers good men.”

— Thomas Aquinas

243. “The Stone is one, the Medicine is one, to which we add nothing, only in the preparation removing superfluities.”

— Thomas Aquinas

244. “Of all human pursuits, the pursuit of wisdom is the most perfect, the most sublime, the most useful, and the most agreeable.”

— Thomas Aquinas

245. “Angels need an assumed body, not for themselves, but on our account.”

— Thomas Aquinas

246. “See to whom Jesus is drawing near, three kinds of people: to those who make peace with him, to those who are devoted to God, and to those who are kind to their neighbors.”

— Thomas Aquinas

247. “Faith presupposes natural knowledge, even as grace presupposes nature, and perfection supposes something that can be perfected.”

— Thomas Aquinas

248. “A capacity as such is directed to an act. Wherefore we seek to know the nature of a capacity from the act to which it is directed, and consequently the nature of a capacity is diversified as the nature of the act is diversified.”

— Thomas Aquinas

249. “If, then, the final happiness of man does not consist in those exterior advantages which are called goods of fortune, nor in goods of the body, nor in goods of the soul in its sentient part, nor in the virtues of practical intellect, called art and prudence, it remains that the final happiness of man consists in the contemplation of truth.”

— Thomas Aquinas

250. “If you want to be saved look the face of your Christ.”

— Thomas Aquinas