Quotes from St. Thomas Aquinas

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

Beware the man of a single book.

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

The soul is like an uninhabited world that comes to life only when God lays His head against us.

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

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

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.

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.

God is never angry for His sake, only for ours.

The happy man in this life needs friends.

Nothing which implies contradiction falls under the omnipotence of God.

God Himself is the rule and mode of virtue. Our faith is measured by divine truth, our hope by the greatness of His power and faithful affection, our charity by His goodness. His truth, power and goodness outreach any measure of reason. We can certainly never believe, trust or love God more than, or even as much as, we should. Extravagance is impossible. Here is no virtuous moderation, no measurable mean; the more extreme our activity, the better we are.

The times are never so bad that a good man cannot live in them

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.

Yet through virtuous living man is further ordained to a higher end, which consists in the enjoyment of God, as we have said above. Consequently, since society must have the same end as the individual man, it is not the ultimate end of an assembled multitude to live virtuously, but through virtuous living to attain to the possession of God.

But a dauntless faith believes

In the old law, God was praised both with musical instruments, and human voices. But the church does not use musical instruments to praise God, lest she should seem to judaize.

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

The light of faith makes us see what we believe.

An Angel can illuminate the thought and mind of man by strengthening the power of vision and by bringing within his reach some truth which the Angel himself contemplates.

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

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

A person is said to be patient…because he acts in a praiseworthy manner by enduring things which hurt him here and now and is not unduly saddened by them.

If you want to be saved look at the face of your Christ.