Frases de Tomás de Aquino

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“Justicia sin misericordia es crueldad y misericordia sin justicia genera disolución.”

“La ley es la prescripción de la razón, ordenada al bien común, dada por aquel que tiene a su cargo el cuidado de la comunidad.”

“El estudioso es el que lleva a los demás a lo que él ha comprendido: la verdad.”

“Lo que se recibe se recibe al modo del recipiente.”

“Es evidente que existe la verdad. Porque el que niega que existe la verdad, conoce que la verdad existe. Si, pues, no existe la verdad, es verdad que la verdad no existe.”

“El pecado ofende a Dios lo que perjudica al hombre.”

“Es preciso admitir algo que sea absolutamente necesario, cuya causa de su necesidad no esté en otro, sino que él sea causa de la necesidad de los demás. Todos le dicen Dios.”

“La existencia de Dios es evidente en sí misma, pero no para nosotros, por tanto, debe demostrarse.”

“Los hombres son grandes en la medida en que buscan a Dios y lo encuentran.”

“Jesucristo es la imagen de Dios en lo humano.”

“El ser de las cosas, no su verdad, es la causa de la verdad en el entendimiento.”

“El verdadero maestro es aquel que ayuda al alumno a alcanzar la perfección de la ciencia.”

“Si alguien no ama la verdad no es hombre.”

“El obrar sigue al ser.”
Operari sequitur esse.

“La justicia es la firme y constante voluntad de dar a cada uno lo suyo.”

“Teme al hombre de un solo libro.”

“Educar es promover a la prole el estado perfecto del hombre en cuanto hombre, esto es, al estado de virtud.”

“El único instrumento que los hombres tenemos tanto para perfeccionarnos como para vivir dignamente es la educación.”

“Contemplar y dar a los demás lo contemplado.”

“La noche es el tiempo propicio para la contemplación y el estudio.”

“Todos los hombres por naturaleza desean saber.”

“La espiritualidad cristiana no tiene más norma que la de seguir a Cristo maestro.”

“Las mujeres pueden adornarse lícitamente para conservar la elegancia de su estado, e incluso añadir algo para agradar a sus maridos.”

“El maestro que se limita a responder un problema solamente con argumentos (citando autores) deja al discípulo con la cabeza vacía.”

“En sí misma la misericordia es la más grande de las virtudes, ya que a ella pertenece volcarse en otros y, más aún, socorrer sus carencias. Esto es peculiar del superior, y por eso se tiene como propio de Dios tener misericordia, en la cual resplandece su omnipotencia de modo máximo.”

“No adoramos a Dios con sacrificios y dones exteriores por Él mismo, sino por nosotros y por el prójimo. Él no necesita nuestros sacrificios, pero quiere que se los ofrezcamos por nuestra devoción y para la utilidad del prójimo. Por eso, la misericordia, que socorre los defectos ajenos, es el sacrificio que más le agrada, ya que causa más de cerca la utilidad del prójimo.”

“Cualquier amigo verdadero quiere para su amigo: 1) que exista y viva; 2) todos los bienes; 3) el hacerle el bien; 4) el deleitarse con su convivencia; y 5) finalmente, el compartir con él sus alegrías y tristezas, viviendo con él en un solo corazón.”

“El amor conduce a la felicidad. Sólo a los que lo tienen se les promete la bienaventuranza eterna. Y sin él, todo lo demás resulta insuficiente.”

“El verdadero amor crece con las dificultades; el falso, se apaga. Por experiencia sabemos que, cuando soportamos pruebas difíciles por alguien a quien queremos, no se derrumba el amor, sino que crece.”

“Rarely affirm, seldom deny, always distinguish.”

“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.”

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

“There must be must be a first mover existing above all – and this we call God.”

“We can't have full knowledge all at once. We must start by believing; then afterwards we may be led on to master the evidence for ourselves.”

“Faith has to do with things that are not seen, and hope with things that are not in hand.”

“Obedience unites us so closely to God that it in a way transforms us into Him, so that we have no other will but His.
If obedience is lacking, even prayer cannot be pleasing to God.”

“The happy man in this life needs friends.”

“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.”

“It is not theft, properly speaking, to take secretly and use another's property in a case of extreme need: because that which he takes for the support of his life becomes his own property by reason of that need”

“A hymn is the praise of God with song; a song is the exultation of the mind dwelling on eternal things, bursting forth in the voice.”

“Man has free choice, or otherwise counsels, exhortations, commands, prohibitions, rewards and punishments would be in vain.”

“Charity, by which God and neighbor are loved, is the most perfect friendship.”

“But if man's affection be one of passion, then it is moved also in regard to other animals: for since the passion of pity is caused by the afflictions of others; and since it happens that even irrational animals are sensible to pain, it is possible for the affection of pity to arise in a man with regard to the sufferings of animals. Now it is evident that if a man practice a pitiful affection for animals, he is all the more disposed to take pity on his fellow-men: wherefore it is written (Prov. 12:10): "The just regardeth the lives of his beasts: but the bowels of the wicked are cruel." Consequently the Lord, in order to inculcate pity to the Jewish people, who were prone to cruelty, wished them to practice pity even with regard to dumb animals, and forbade them to do certain things savoring of cruelty to animals. Hence He prohibited them to "boil a kid in the milk of its dam"; and to "muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn"; and to slay "the dam with her young."”

“To be united to God in unity of person was not fitting to human flesh, according to its natural endowments, since it was above his dignity; nevertheless, it was fitting that God, by reason of his infinite goodness, should unite it to himself for human salvation.”

“The greatness of the human being consists in this: that it is capable of the universe.”

“Baptism is the door of the spiritual life and the gateway to the sacraments.”

“It is on account neither of God's weakness nor ignorance that evil comes into the world, but rather it is due to the order of his wisdom and the greatness of his goodness that diverse grades of goodness occur in things, many of which would be lacking if no evil were permitted. Indeed, the good of patience would not exist without the evil of persecution; nor the good of preservation of life in a lion if not for the evil of the destruction of the animals on which it lives.”

“I answer that, It was necessary for woman to be made, as the Scripture says, as a "helper" to man; not, indeed, as a helpmate in other works, as some say, since man can be more efficiently helped by another man in other works; but as a helper in the work of generation. This can be made clear if we observe the mode of generation carried out in various living things. Some living things do not possess in themselves the power of generation, but are generated by some other specific agent, such as some plants and animals by the influence of the heavenly bodies, from some fitting matter and not from seed: others possess the active and passive generative power together; as we see in plants which are generated from seed; for the noblest vital function in plants is generation. Wherefore we observe that in these the active power of generation invariably accompanies the passive power. Among perfect animals the active power of generation belongs to the male sex, and the passive power to the female. And as among animals there is a vital operation nobler than generation, to which their life is principally directed; therefore the male sex is not found in continual union with the female in perfect animals, but only at the time of coition; so that we may consider that by this means the male and female are one, as in plants they are always united; although in some cases one of them preponderates, and in some the other. But man is yet further ordered to a still nobler vital action, and that is intellectual operation. Therefore there was greater reason for the distinction of these two forces in man; so that the female should be produced separately from the male; although they are carnally united for generation. Therefore directly after the formation of woman, it was said: "And they shall be two in one flesh"”

“If… the motion of the earth were circular, it would be violent and contrary to nature, and could not be eternal, since … nothing violent is eternal …. It follows, therefore, that the earth is not moved with a circular motion.”

“Yet if heretics be altogether uprooted by death, this is not contrary to Our Lord's command [in Matthew 13:30], which is to be understood as referring to the case when the cockle [weeds] cannot be plucked up without plucking up the wheat, as we explained above (10, 8, ad 1), when treating of unbelievers in general.”

“Reason may be employed in two ways to establish a point: firstly, for the purpose of furnishing sufficient proof of some principle, as in natural science, where sufficient proof can be brought to show that the movement of the heavens is always of uniform velocity. Reason is employed in another way, not as furnishing a sufficient proof of a principle, but as confirming an already established principle, by showing the congruity of its results, as in astrology the theory of eccentrics and epicycles is considered as established, because thereby the sensible appearances of the heavenly movements can be explained; not, however, as if this proof were sufficient, forasmuch as some other theory might explain them.”

“All that I have written seems like straw compared to what has now been revealed to me.”

“As regards the individual nature, woman is defective and misbegotten, for the active power of the male seed tends to the production of a perfect likeness in the masculine sex; while the production of a woman comes from defect in the active force or from some material indisposition, or even from some external influence…On the other hand, as regards human nature in general, woman is not misbegotten, but is included in nature's intention as directed to the work of generation. Now the general intention of nature depends on God, Who is the universal Author of nature. Therefore, in producing nature, God formed not only the male but also the female.”

“Natural inclinations are present in things from God, who moves all things. So it is impossible for the natural inclinations of a species to be toward evil in itself. But there is in all perfect animals a natural inclination toward carnal union. Therefore it is impossible for carnal union to be evil in itself.”

“We ought to cherish the body. Our body's substance is not from an evil principle, as the Manicheans imagine, but from God. And therefore, we ought to cherish the body by the friendship of love, by which we love God.”

“Suppose a person entering a house were to feel heat on the porch, and going further, were to feel the heat increasing, the more they penetrated within. Doubtless, such a person would believe there was a fire in the house, even though they did not see the fire that must be causing all this heat. A similar thing will happen to anyone who considers this world in detail: one will observe that all things are arranged according to their degrees of beauty and excellence, and that the nearer they are to God, the more beautiful and better they are.”

“It is written (1 John 4:16): "He that abideth in charity abideth in God, and God in him." Now charity is the love of God. Therefore, for the same reason, every love makes the beloved to be in the lover, and vice versa… the beloved is said to be in the lover, inasmuch as the beloved abides in the apprehension of the lover, according to Philippians 1:7, "For that I have you in my heart": while the lover is said to be in the beloved, according to apprehension, inasmuch as the lover is not satisfied with a superficial apprehension of the beloved, but strives to gain an intimate knowledge of everything pertaining to the beloved, so as to penetrate into his very soul.”

“The third principle [way doing good to another may give pleasure] is the motive: for instance when a man is moved by one whom he loves, to do good to someone: for whatever we do or suffer for a friend is pleasant, because love is the principal cause of pleasure.”