St. Thomas Aquinas

Quotes from the thirteenth century philosopher, theologian, scholastic, Dominican friar, priest, and saint. #philosophy #theology #catholic #christian #thomism

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Last Notes

2024-09-15 09:43:51

According to the order of His wisdom, God sometimes slays sinners forthwith in order to deliver the good, whereas sometimes He allows them time to repent, according as He knows what is expedient for His elect (ST 2-2.64.2ad2).

2024-08-20 09:43:41

The BEAUTIFUL is the same as the GOOD, and they differ in notion only (ST 1-2.27.1ad3).

2024-08-20 03:43:49

And so, although man as man is one kind of good, still they are not by that very fact good human beings; rather, it is the proper virtue of each thing that makes it good. For virtue makes its possessor good (On evil, q. 1, a. 2). / 2

2024-08-20 00:43:41

The day of each person's death can be called the day of the Lord, because then Christ comes to each person to reward or condemn him.

2024-08-19 21:43:38

The Son of God assumed human nature to restore it. So what is a defect of nature will be restored in all, and so all will return from death to life (ScG 4.81).

2024-08-19 18:43:43

It is clearly impossible to have patience without the help of grace.

2024-08-19 15:43:44

We see anger, sexual desires, and certain passions obviously change the body externally, for example, in causing body heat. Sometimes such passions generate so much heat that they lead people to insanity (Commentary on Nicomachean Ethics 7)

2024-08-19 12:43:54

Truth is a part of justice (ST 2-2.109.3).

2024-08-19 09:43:41

If foreigners were allowed to meddle with the affairs of a nation as soon as they arrived, many dangers might occur, since the foreigners not yet having the common good firmly at heart might strive for certain goals in opposition to the people (ST 1-2.105.3).

2024-08-19 06:43:50

When a being has in another its entire reason for being, it is impossible that it not love, by nature, this other more than itself (ST 1.60.5ad1).

2024-08-19 03:43:45

Prudence requires not only the understanding of ends but also moral virtues (On Truth q. 5, a. 1).

2024-08-19 00:43:49

Why does Christ mention here only love for neighbor? The answer is that one is included in the other: for a person who loves God must love his neighbor and things which belong to God; and the person who loves his neighbor for the sake of God must love God (Commentary on John 15).

2024-08-18 21:43:45

It may be that a war is declared by the legitimate authority, and for a just cause, and yet be rendered unlawful through a depraved intention (ST 2-2.40.1).

2024-08-18 18:44:14

The intention of the wise man ought to be directed toward the twofold truth of divine things and at the same time toward the destruction of the errors that are contrary to this truth (ScG 1.9).

2024-08-18 15:43:45

The will is a rational appetite (ST 1-2.8.1).

2024-08-18 12:43:45

God is more ready to show mercy than to punish.

2024-08-18 09:43:37

Disordered love of self is a cause of every sin (ST 1-2.77.4).

2024-08-18 06:43:43

As the consecration of Christ's body belongs to the priest, so likewise does the dispensing belong to him (ST 3.82.3).

2024-08-18 03:43:54

Just as the wickedness of a woman surpasses all other wickedness, so sadness of the heart surpasses every outward wound (ST 1-2.35.7sc).

2024-08-18 00:43:38

As ashes after the consumption of wood remain a short time, so the reputation of man passes away quickly after death.

2024-08-17 21:43:44

It is clearly impossible to have patience without the help of grace.

2024-08-17 18:44:11

PRUDENCE is the virtue which commands; JUSTICE, the virtue which is about due actions between equals; TEMPERANCE, the virtue which suppresses desires for the pleasures of touch; and FORTITUDE, the virtue which strengthens against dangers of death (ST 1-2.61.3).

2024-08-17 15:43:42

An action is determined to a moral species in two ways. In one way from its object, as fornication is determined to its moral species from this, that it is about pleasures of touch (In IV sent., d. 38, q. 2, a. 2, qa. 2).

2024-08-17 12:43:46

The end and ultimate perfection of the human soul lies in its transcending by knowledge and love the whole order of creatures, thus reaching up to the first principle, which is God.

2024-08-17 09:43:44

Good is found even in things that are bad in themselves, as when someone is said to be a good thief because he works in a way that is suited to his end (ST 1-2.92.1).

2024-08-17 06:43:58

God is Lord of death and life, for by His decree both the sinful and the righteous die.

2024-08-17 03:43:50

Everything tending to its own perfection tends toward the divine likeness (ScG 3.21).

2024-08-16 09:43:46

Any virtue that causes good in reason's act of consideration is PRUDENCE, every virtue that causes what is due in operation is JUSTICE, every virtue that curbs . . . the passions is TEMPERANCE, and every virtue that strengthens the mind against any passions whatever is COURAGE.

2024-08-16 06:43:50

In this world, some things seem to happen by luck or chance.

2024-08-15 09:43:41

Disordered love of self is a cause of every sin (ST 1-2.77.4).

2024-08-15 06:43:38

The theories which the astronomers devised are not necessarily true. For the apparent movements of the stars might possibly be explained in some other way not yet known to man (In de caelo 2.17).

2024-08-15 03:43:52

Just as the soul is immediately united to the body, so charity is immediately united to the soul (ST 2-2.23.2ad2).

2024-08-15 00:44:47

The theories which the astronomers devised are not necessarily true. For the apparent movements of the stars might possibly be explained in some other way not yet known to man (In de caelo 2.17).

2024-08-14 21:43:45

The theories which the astronomers devised are not necessarily true. For the apparent movements of the stars might possibly be explained in some other way not yet known to man (In de caelo 2.17).

2024-08-14 18:43:48

Men are called monsters who, though in a human body, bear within them the heart of a beast, since vice has made them like to beasts in their affections (De Trinitate, preface).

2024-08-14 15:43:39

When God confers a special grace upon anyone, the name indicating that grace is given at one’s birth: as in the case of John the Baptist, who was named before he was born, because he had been sanctified in his mother’s womb (Commentary on John 1).

2024-08-14 12:44:00

In the creature, the act of creation is nothing other than a certain relation to the creator as the principle of its existence (ST. 1.45.3).

2024-08-14 09:43:46

If a man's reason errs in mistaking another for his wife, and if he wish to give her her right when she asks for it, his will is excused from being evil: because this error arises from ignorance of a circumstance.

2024-08-14 06:43:40

There is no act of charity more perfect than the one by which a man bears even death for another; as our Lord Himself says: “Greater love than this no man has that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).

2024-08-14 03:43:52

Every law is to make men righteous and virtuous.

2024-08-14 00:44:06

Others have God not for that object in which their act passes, but for a proximate end, as is clear concerning the act of worship (In Sent 4.4.1.1).

2024-08-13 21:43:41

Christ wished to give this sacrament last of all, in order that it might make a deeper impression on the hearts of the disciples.

2024-08-13 18:43:40

God is our Father by reason of our special creation, in that He created us in His image and likeness, and did not so create all inferior creatures (On the Our Father).

2024-08-13 15:43:45

Virtues that are infused relate to God in three ways. For certain ones have God as object and end, as the theological virtues do.

2024-08-13 12:43:45

A father is the principle of generation, of education, of learning, and of whatever pertains to the perfection of human life (ST 2-2.102.1).

2024-08-13 09:43:43

2024-08-13 06:43:40

After the consecration, the whole substance of Christ's body and blood is contained in this sacrament, just as the whole substance of the bread and wine was contained there before the consecration.

2024-08-13 03:43:38

Prayer frees one from the fear of future sin, and from trials and sadness of soul: “Is any one of you sad? Let him pray” (James 5:13).

2024-08-13 00:43:41

The image of God is common to both sexes, since it stems from the mind, in which there is no distinction between sexes (ST 1.93.6ad2).

2024-08-12 21:44:11

Since our Lord's Passion was celebrated from the third to the ninth hour, therefore this sacrament is solemnly celebrated by the Church in that part of the day (ST 3.83.3).

2024-08-12 18:43:42

Since the rational soul is the form of man, every man has a natural inclination to live according to reason (ST 1-2.94.3).

2024-08-12 15:43:45

Sometimes, although reason is clouded by passion, yet something of this reason remains free. And in respect of this, man can either repel the passion entirely, or at least hold himself in check so as not to be led away by the passion.

2024-08-12 12:43:51

The intellect forms two things, according to its two operations: According to its operation called “the understanding of indivisibles,” it forms a definition; while according to its operation by which it composes and divides, it forms a statement (Commentary on John 1).

2024-08-12 09:43:35

Those who love their friends in proportion to their worth remain friends and their friendship is lasting (Commentary on Nicomachean Ethics 8).

2024-08-12 06:44:19

Men usually confuse rage with courage when they attribute to courage things that enraged or angry people do (Commentary on Ethics 3).

2024-08-12 03:43:38

Humility, insofar as it is a specific virtue, has to do mainly with a man’s submission to God, for whose sake the man submits himself to others by humbling himself (ST 2-2.161.1ad5).

2024-08-12 00:43:53

Every sinful act proceeds from inordinate desire for some temporal good (ST 1-2.77.4).

2024-08-11 21:43:49

A man can be secure from sin in the will, only when his intellect is secure from ignorance and from error (ScG 4.70).

2024-08-11 18:44:29

To man as man belong rational and animal, and whatever else falls in his definition. But white or black, or anything of this sort, which is not of the content of humanity, does not belong to man as man (On being and essence).

2024-08-11 12:43:48

If someone would like to contradict this work, let him not babble to children. Let him write a book and publish it so that competent persons can judge what is true and reject what is false (Contra retrahentes, ch. 17).

2024-08-11 09:43:40

In any object of appetite, there are two aspects which can be considered: the thing itself which is desired, and the reason for its desirability, such as pleasure, utility, or something of the sort (On Truth q. 25, a. 1).

2024-08-11 06:43:38

Reasons why one is tempted after receiving spiritual grace: 1. To confound the devil, so that he would know that the virtue of Christ is so great that he cannot overcome him. An example of this is found in Job (1:8): “Have you considered my servant Job?”, 2. That he might become stronger, as soldiers become stronger through experience: “These are the nations which the Lord left to test Israel by them, that is, all in Israel who had no experience of any war in Canaan” (Jg 3:1).

2024-08-11 03:43:48

Generosity does not mean giving away wealth such that not enough remains for the individual himself to live on (ST 2-2.117.1ad2).

2024-08-11 00:43:56

A continuing evil is worse than a passing one.

2024-08-10 21:43:46

Nothing prevents the souls of the damned from understanding many truths, but they do not understand the First Truth, namely, God (On the Soul a. 17 ad 7).

2024-08-10 18:43:39

Politics considers the ultimate and complete good regarding human affairs (Commentary on Politics, Prologue).

2024-08-10 15:43:44

A sick person's tongue, infected with a jaundiced and bitter humor, cannot perceive anything sweet; rather, all things seem bitter to that person (ST 1.75.2).

2024-08-10 12:43:34

Just as it is false that God is not indulgent with sinners or that He does not turn sinners toward repentance, so it is false that He gives forgiveness to those who persist in sin and that He bestows glory on those who desist from good work.

2024-08-10 09:43:36

Fasting is directed to two things, the deletion of sin, and the raising of the mind to heavenly things (ST 2-2.147.5).

2024-08-10 06:43:52

Truth is not compatible with falsity, as neither is whiteness with blackness. But God is not only true, He is truth itself. So there can be no falsity in Him (ScG 1.61).

2024-08-10 03:43:49

It is not lawful for a man to intend killing a man in self-defense, except for such as have public authority, who while intending to kill a man in self-defense, refer this to the public good, as in the case of a soldier fighting against the foe (ST 2-2.64.7).

2024-08-10 00:43:39

The foundation of salvation is not faith without charity, but faith informed by charity. Significantly therefore the Lord did not say, “whoever believes him,” but whoever believes in him, that is, whoever by believing tends toward him through love is not judged.

2024-08-09 21:43:51

Divine truth and goodness constitute the principle for understanding and loving every creature (ST 1.37.2ad3).

2024-08-09 18:43:39

The very people who crucified Christ are freed from their sins by Christ's blood. For there is no sinner so great that he cannot be freed by the blood of Christ (Commentary on John 8, lect. 3).

2024-08-09 15:43:41

Similarly, it is necessary to have spiritual nourishment for the spiritual life that the reborn may both be conserved in virtues and grow in them (ScG 4.61).

2024-08-09 12:43:50

If a husband were permitted to abandon his wife, the society of husband and wife would not be an association of equals, but instead a kind of slavery (ScG 3.123).

2024-08-09 06:43:44

A woman is the image of God.

2024-08-09 03:43:42

The good will always endure (ScG 3.12).

2024-08-09 00:43:41

The goods in which we rejoice are either imperfect or imperfectly possessed; and so in this life our joy cannot be full. But it will be full when perfect goods are perfectly possessed: “Enter into the joy of your master” (Mt 25:21).

2024-08-08 21:43:44

All things, by desiring their own perfection, desire God Himself.

2024-08-08 18:43:50

Simply speaking, something is most conformed to God when it has whatever the condition of its nature requires, because it then best imitates the divine perfection (In Sent. 43.1.1.1).

2024-08-08 15:43:38

Man in sinning draws away from the order of reason and so abandons human greatness—insofar as man is naturally free and a being who exists for himself—and he falls in with the subjected condition of irrational animals (ST 2-2.54.2).

2024-08-08 12:43:42

If we say that the generous man keeps cheaper things for himself and makes a present of the more expensive to others, a young man will perhaps judge this not to be true because of inexperience (Commentary on Ethics 1).

2024-08-08 09:43:37

2024-08-08 06:43:38

Faith is the first foundation of things to be hoped for.

2024-08-08 03:43:38

Either miracles were performed, and then I have made my point. Or if not, then that is the greatest miracle of all, for the entire world was converted through twelve worthless fishermen (Commentary on Mt. 10, lect. 1).

2024-08-08 00:43:40

To know the future in its cause is nothing other than to know the present inclination of the cause to its effect. Properly speaking, then, it is not knowledge of the future but of the present (On evil 16.7).

2024-08-07 21:43:35

Because the Son receives from the Father that the Holy Spirit proceeds from Him, it can be said that the Father spirates the Holy Spirit through the Son, or that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father through the Son, which has the same meaning (ST 1.36.3).

2024-08-07 18:43:43

Note five reasons why one is tempted after receiving spiritual grace: 1. To receive a test of his righteousness: “He that is not tempted, what sort of things does he know?” (Sir 34:10). 2. To repress pride: “To keep me from being too elated by the abundance of revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me” (2 Cor 12:7).

2024-08-07 15:43:44

Every definition and every cognition occurs through a form.

2024-08-07 12:43:39

2024-08-07 09:43:44

Both the blessed and the damned are under the eternal law.

2024-08-07 06:43:41

Gregory remarks that there are two kinds of work. One absorbs the mind, and hinders our spiritual concerns, as tax collecting. No one should return to such work, even to provide food. So we do not read that Matthew returned to his tax collecting post.

2024-08-07 03:43:41

The New Law fulfills the Old by justifying men through the power of Christ's Passion.

2024-08-07 00:43:38

Telling the truth at the proper time and place is a sign of love (Commentary on Galatians 4).

2024-08-06 21:43:41

The whole community of the universe is governed by Divine Reason (ST 1-2.91.1).

2024-08-06 18:43:40

2024-08-06 15:43:34

What constitutes happiness is a good of the soul.

2024-08-06 12:43:39

Christ’s body, which appeared to the disciples when the doors were closed, could by the same power come forth from the closed womb of His mother (Compendium of Theology ch. 225)

2024-08-06 09:43:38

Everyone is inclined by nature to the same pleasure as the highest, namely, the contemplation of rational truth inasmuch as all men naturally desire to know (Commentary on Nicomachean Ethics 7)