1225-1274, Italian Scholastic Philosopher and Theologian
A man has free choice to the extent that he is rational.
St. Thomas Aquinas – [Reason]
Because philosophy arises from awe, a philosopher is bound in his way to be a lover of myths and poetic fables. Poets and philosophers are alike in being big with wonder.
St. Thomas Aquinas – [Philosophers and Philosophy]
Beware of the person of one book.
St. Thomas Aquinas – [Books and Reading]
By nature all men are equal in liberty, but not in other endowments.
St. Thomas Aquinas – [Equality]
Friendship is the source of the greatest pleasures, and without friends even the most agreeable pursuits become tedious.
St. Thomas Aquinas – [Friends and Friendship]
Happiness is secured through virtue; it is a good attained by man's own will.
St. Thomas Aquinas – [Will and Will Power]
Most men seem to live according to sense rather than reason.
St. Thomas Aquinas – [Reason]
Temperance is simply a disposition of the mind which binds the passion.
St. Thomas Aquinas – [Character]
The highest manifestation of life consists in this: that a being governs its own actions. A thing which is always subject to the direction of another is somewhat of a dead thing.
St. Thomas Aquinas – [Self-reliance]
Those who are more adapted to the active life can prepare themselves for contemplation in the practice of the active life, while those who are more adapted to the contemplative life can take upon themselves the works of the active life so as to become yet more apt for contemplation.
St. Thomas Aquinas – [Action]
To convert somebody go and take them by the hand and guide them.
St. Thomas Aquinas – [Persuasion]
Well-ordered self-love is right and natural.
St. Thomas Aquinas – [Love]