Thomas Aquinas Quotes

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.

A man has free choice to the extent that he is rational.

A man has free choice to the extent that he is rational

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

Beware the man of a single book.

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

I receive Thee ransom of my soul. For love of Thee have I studied and kept vigil toiled preached and taught…

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.