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Quote by Thomas Aquinas

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Theological texts

This book encompasses a variety of theological texts, including treatises, sermons, and commentaries that explore the principles and teachings of various religions and spiritual traditions. more

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Thomas Aquinas
Thomas Aquinas

Thomas Aquinas, born on January 28, 1225 and died on March 7, 1274, was a renowned theologian, philosopher, and priest. He is considered one of the greatest theologians of the Middle Ages and his works have had a profound impact on philosophy and theology. more

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“Reasoning is compared to understanding as movement is to rest, or acquisition to possession.... Since movement always proceeds from something immovable, and ends in something at rest, hence it is that human reasoning, in the order of inquiry and discovery, proceeds from certain things absolutely understood--namely, the first principles; and, again, in the order of judgment, returns by analysis to first principles, in the light of which it examines what it has found. Now it is clear that rest and movement are not to be referred to different powers, but to one and the same.”

FirstsHumansDifferentEndsReasonLightCertainOrderFoundUnderstandingPrinciplesClearMovementReturnJudgmentUnderstoodDiscoveryPossessionAnalysisReasoningInquiryAcquisition
Author:Thomas Aquinas
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“Good and evil are essential differences of the act of the will. For good and evil pertain essentially to the will; just as truth and falsehood pertain to the reason, the act of which is distinguished essentially by the difference of truth and falsehood (according as we say that an opinion is true or false.) Consequently, good and evil volition are acts differing in species.”

ReasonEvilDifferencesOpinionEssentialsSpeciesGood And EvilFalsehoodDistinguishedVolitionTruth And FalsehoodTrue Or False
Book:Basic Writings of St. Thomas Aquinas, Volume 2
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“Evil denotes the lack of good. Not every absence of good is an evil, for absence may be taken either in a purely negative or in aprivative sense. Mere negation does not display the character of evil, otherwise nonexistents would be evil and moreover, a thing would be evil for not possessing the goodness of something else, which would mean that man is bad for not having the strength of a lion or the speed of a wild goat. But what is evil is privation; in this sense blindness means the privation of sight.”

MenMayMeanDoeCharacterWould BeEvilTakenGoodnessNegativeSightMereSpeedAbsenceLionsDisplayBlindnessGoatsPossessingNegation
Book:Philosophical Texts
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“Pain itself can be pleasurable accidentally in so far as it is accompanied by wonder, as in stage-plays; or in so far as it recalls a beloved object to one's memory, and makes one feel one's love for the thing, whose absence gives us pain. Consequently, since love is pleasant, both pain and whatever else results from love, in so far as they remind us of our love, are pleasant.”

GivingFeelsPlayPainMemoriesLove IsResultsWonderStageObjectsAbsenceBelovedPleasantRecallsOur LoveStage Play
Book:Summa Theologica, (Complete)
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