Thomas Aquinas Quotes on God
Aquinas's Summa Theologica I.2.3 sets out the Five Ways — five a posteriori arguments from observable features of the world (motion, efficient causation, contingency, gradations of perfection, teleology) to the existence of a first cause that everyone calls God. The arguments are syntheses of Aristotelian natural philosophy with Christian doctrine, refined through engagement with the Islamic Aristotelianism of Avicenna and Averroes. The wider Thomistic theology develops the divine attributes through analogical predication, holding that human language can speak of God truly though never univocally.
Quotes
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Attributed to Thomas Aquinas:
“Faith has to do with things that are not seen, and hope with things that are not at hand.”
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“Three things are necessary for the salvation of man: to know what he ought to believe; to know what he ought to desire; and to know what he ought to do.”
Tria sunt homini necessaria ad salutem: scilicit scientia credendorum, scientia desiderandorum, et scientia operandorum. -
“Down in adoration falling, Lo! the sacred Host we hail; Lo! o'er ancient forms departing, Newer rites of grace prevail; Faith for all defects supplying, Where the feeble senses fail.”
Pange, Lingua , stanza 5 ( Tantum Ergo ) -
“Thus Angels' Bread is made The Bread of man today: The Living Bread from Heaven With figures doth away : O wondrous gift indeed! The poor and lowly may Upon their Lord and Master feed.”
Sacris Solemniis Juncta Sint Gaudia (Matins hymn for Corpus Christi), stanza 6 ( Panis Angelicus ) -
“O saving Victim, opening wide The gate of heaven to man below, Our foes press on from every side, Thine aid supply, Thy strength bestow.”
Verbum Supernum Prodiens (hymn for Lauds on Corpus Christi), stanza 5 ( O Salutaris Hostia ) -
“Anything done against faith or conscience is sinful.”
Commentary on Romans , cap 14, I 3