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It Is Clear That He Does Not Pray, Who, Far From Uplifting Himself To God, Requires That God Shall Lower Himself To Him, And Who Resorts To Prayer Not To Stir The Man In Us To Will What God Wills, But Only To Persuade God To Will What The Man In Us Wills.

-Thomas Aquinas

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It Is Clear That

Thomas Aquinas

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It Is Clear That He Does Not Pray, Who, Far From Uplifting Himself To God, Requires That God Shall Lower Himself To Him, And Who Resorts To Prayer Not To Stir The Man In Us To Will What God Wills, But Only To Persuade God To Will What The Man In Us Wills.

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Gods Are Called Many By The Error Of Some Who Worshipped Many Deities, Thinking As They Did The Planets And Other Stars Were Gods, And Also The Separate Parts Of The World.

Now, Nothing Can Be Brought From Potentiality To Actual Existence Except Through Something Actually Existing

There Being An Imminent Danger For The Faith, Prelates Must Be Questioned, Even Publicly, By Their Subjects.

One Day When Thomas Aquinas Was Preaching To The Local Populace On The Love Of God, He Saw An Old Woman Listening Attentively To His Every Word. And Inspired By Her Eagerness To Learn More About Her God Whom She Loved So Dearly, He Said To The People: It Is Better To Be This Unlearned Woman, Loving God With All Her Heart, Than The Most Learned Theologian Lacking Love.

He Who Is Dying Of Hunger Must Be Fed Rather Than Taught.

Grant Me, O Lord My God, A Mind To Know You, A Heart To Seek You, Wisdom To Find You, Conduct Pleasing To You, Faithful Perseverance In Waiting For You, And A Hope Of Finally Embracing You. Amen.

A Man's Heart Is Right When He Wills What God Wills.

Devotion Is A Certain Act Of The Will By Which Man Gives Himself Promptly To Divine Service.

The Light Of Faith Makes Us See What We Believe.

The Only-begotten Son Of God, Wanting To Make Us Sharers In His Divinity, Assumed Our Nature, So That He, Made Man, Might Make Men Gods.

It Is Requisite For The Relaxation Of The Mind That We Make Use, From Time To Time, Of Playful Deeds And Jokes.

The Fact That The Evil Ones, As Long As They Live, Can Be Corrected From Their Errors Does Not Prohibit That They May Be Justly Executed, For The Danger Which Threatens From Their Way Of Life Is Greater And More Certain Than The Good Which May Be Expected From Their Improvement.

Sorrow Can Be Alleviated By Good Sleep, A Bath And A Glass Of Good Wine.

The Soul, Which Is The First Principle Of Life, Is Not A Body, But The Act Of A Body; Just As Heat, Which Is The Principle Of Calefaction, Is Not A Body, But An Act Of A Body.

It Is Possible To Demonstrate God's Existence, Although Not A Priori, Yet A Posteriori From Some Work Of His More Surely Known To Us.

Fear Is Such A Powerful Emotion For Humans That When We Allow It To Take Us Over, It Drives Compassion Right Out Of Our Hearts.

The Servants Of God...whether Provoked By Word Or Work, By Keeping Themselves Tranquil And Peaceful, Evince A Perfect Nobleness Of Soul.

Do Not Wish To Jump Immediately From The Streams To The Sea, Because One Has To Go Through Easier Things To The More Difficult.

It Is Due To Neither Impotence Nor Ignorance On God’s Part That Evils Occur In The World, But It Is Owing To The Order Of His Wisdom And To The Greatness Of His Goodness, Whence Come The Many And Divers Grades Of Goodness In Things, Many Of Which Would Be Lacking Were He To Allow No Evil To Exist. Thus There Would Be No Good Of Patience Without The Evil Of Persecution, Nor The Good Of The Preservation Of Its Life In A Lion, Without The Evil Of The Destruction Of The Animals On Which It Lives.

Pray Thee, Spare, Thyself At Times: For It Becomes A Wise Man Sometimes To Relax The High Pressure Of His Attention To Work.

It [covetousness] Is A Sin Against God, Just As All Mortal Sins, In As Much As Man Condemns Things Eternal For The Sake Of Temporal Things.

A Scrap Of Knowledge About Sublime Things Is Worth More Than Any Amount About Trivialities.

God's Precepts Are Light To The Loving, Heavy To The Fearful.

He Suddenly Announced That He Could Not Write Any More Since "all That I Have Written Seems Like Straw To Me."

Temperance Is Simply A Disposition Of The Mind Which Binds The Passion.

To Live Well Is To Work Well, To Show A Good Activity.

Human Salvation Demands The Divine Disclosure Of Truths Surpassing Reason.

God Answered The Prayers Of Animals.

Christ Was Either Liar, Lunatic, Or Lord!

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.

Contemplative Life

Charity, By Which God And Neighbor Are Loved, Is The Most Perfect Friendship.

The Greater The Charity Of The Saints In Their Heavenly Home, The More They Intercede For Those Who Are Still On Their Journey And The More They Can Help Them By Their Prayers; The More They Are United With God, The More Effective Those Prayers Are. This Is In Accordance With Divine Order, Which Makes Higher Things React Upon Lower Things, Like The Brightness Of The Sun Filling The Atmosphere.

The Same Fire" (which He Decides To Be Material) " Torments The Damned In Hell And The Just In Purgatory...the Least Pain In Purgatory Exceeds The Greatest In This Life.

We Should Love Others Truly, For Their Own Sakes Rather Than Our Own.

There Is Within Every Soul A Thirst For Happiness And Meaning.

It Is Unlawful To Add Anything To The Words Of Holy Scripture Regarding The Sense.

Likewise Grace And Glory Are Referred To The Same Genus, Since Grace Is Nothing Other Than A Certain First Beginning Of Glory In Us.

The Greatness Of The Human Being Consists In This: That It Is Capable Of The Universe.

What Does It Take To Become A Saint? Will It.

Anything Done Against Faith Or Conscience Is Sinful.

In A False Person, Sacraments Do Not Produce Any Effect.

If Someone Knows From Experience That Daily Communion Increases Fervor Without Lessening Reverence, Then Let Him Go Every Day. But If Someone Finds That Reverence Is Lessened And Devotion Not Much Increased, Then Let Him Sometimes Abstain, So As To Draw Near Afterwards With Better Dispositions.

Secondly, Man Sins Against Nature When He Goes Against His Generic Nature, That Is To Say, His Animal Nature. Now, It Is Evident That, In Accord With Natural Order, The Union Of The Sexes Among Animals Is Ordered Towards Conception. From This It Follows That Every Sexual Intercourse That Cannot Lead To Conception Is Opposed To Man's Animal Nature.

It Is Clear That He Does Not Pray, Who, Far From Uplifting Himself To God, Requires That God Shall Lower Himself To Him, And Who Resorts To Prayer Not To Stir The Man In Us To Will What God Wills, But Only To Persuade God To Will What The Man In Us Wills.

It Is Only God Who Creates. Man Merely Rearranges.

Theology Is Taught By God, Teaches God, And Leads To God.

One Faith, St. Paul Writes (eph. 4:5). Hold Most Firmly That Our Faith Is Identical With That Of The Ancients. Deny This, And You Dissolve The Unity Of The Church ... We Must Hold This For Certain, Namely: That The Faith Of The People At The Present Day Is One With The Faith Of The People In Past Centuries. Were This Not True, Then We Would Be In A Different Church Than They Were In And, Literally, The Church Would Not Be One.

Man Can Sin Against Nature In Two Ways. First, When He Sins Against His Specific Rational Nature, Acting Contrary To Reason. In This Sense, We Can Say That Every Sin Is A Sin Against Man's Nature, Because It Is Against Man's Right Reason.

There Is Nothing In Your Mind Which Wasn't Experienced Before Hand.

Art Is Right Reason In The Doing Of Work.

I Answer That, Even, As In The Blessed In Heaven There Will Be Most Perfect Charity, So In The Damned There Will Be The Most Perfect Hate.

Inspirational Life

Justice Is A Certain Rectitude Of Mind Whereby A Man Does What He Ought To Do In The Circumstances Confronting Him.

All That Is True, By Whomsoever It Has Been Said Has Its Origin In The Spirit.

Well-ordered Self-love Is Right And Natural.

Peace Is The Work Of Justice Indirectly, In So Far As Justice Removes The Obstacles To Peace; But It Is The Work Of Charity (love) Directly, Since Charity, According To Its Very Notion, Causes Peace.

Of All The Pursuits Open To Men, The Search For Wisdom Is Most Perfect, More Sublime, More Profitable, And More Full Of Joy.

There Can Be No Joy In Living Without Joy In Work.

In Order For A War To Be Just, Three Things Are Necessary. First, The Authority Of The Sovereign... Secondly, A Just Cause... Thirdly... A Rightful Intention.

Justice Is In Subjects As Well As In Rulers.

If Anyone Without The Right Faith Receives Baptism Outside The Church, He Does Not Receive It Unto Salvation ... From The Comparison Of The Church To Paradise, We Learn That Men Can Receive Her Baptism Even Outside Her Fold, But That Out There No One Can Receive Or Keep The Salvation Of The Blessed.

The Soul Is Known By It's Acts.

Jesus Lord, Kind Pelican, Cleanse My Filth With Thy Blood, One Drop Of Which Can Save The Whole World From All Its Sin

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.

Baptism Is The Sacrament Of Faith. Now, Dead Faith Does Not Suffice For Salvation .. .therefore, The Sacrament Of Baptism Cannot Give Salvation To A Man Whose Will ... Expels The Form Of Faith.

The Human Mind May Perceive Truth Only Through Thinking, As Is Clear From Augustine.

The Things That We Love Tell Us What We Are.

It Is Altogether Unlawful To Kill Oneself... Wherefore Suicide Is Contrary To The Inclination Of Nature, And To Charity Whereby Every Man Should Love Himself... Life Is God's Gift To Man, And Is Subject To His Power, Who Kills And Makes To Live. Hence Whoever Takes His Own Life, Sins Against God... For It Belongs To God Alone To Pronounce Sentence Of Death And Life.

Charity Brings To Life Again Those Who Are Spiritually Dead.

If There Were Some Solitary Or Feral Man, The Passions Of The Soul Would Be Sufficient For Him; By Them He Would Be Conformed To Things In Order That He Might Have Knowledge Of Them. But Because Man Is Naturally Political And Social, There Is Need For One Man To Make His Conceptions Known To Others, Which Is Done With Speech. So Significant Speech Was Needed If Men Were To Live Together. Which Is Why Those Of Different Tongues Do Not Easily Live Together.

Love Takes Up Where Knowledge Leaves Off.

The World Of Pure Spirits Stretches Between The Divine Nature And The World Of Human Beings; Because Divine Wisdom Has Ordained That The Higher Should Look After The Lower, Angels Execute The Divine Plan For Human Salvation: They Are Our Guardians, Who Free Us When Hindered And Help To Bring Us Home.

It May Well Happen That What Is In Itself The More Certain On Account Of The Weakness Of Our Intelligence, Which Is Dazzled By The Clearest Objects Of Nature; As The Owl Is Dazzled By The Light Of The Sun. Hence The Fact That Some Happen To Doubt About Articles Of Faith Is Not Due To The Uncertain Nature Of The Truths, But To The Weakness Of Human Intelligence; Yet The Slenderest Knowledge That May Be Obtained Of The Highest Things Is More Desirable Than The Most Certain Knowledge Obtained Of Lesser Things.

Law Has The Power To Compel: Indeed, The Ability To Enforce Is A Condition Of The Ability To Command.

God Should Not Be Called An Individual Substance, Since The Principle Of Individuation Is Matter.

Because Of The Diverse Conditions Of Humans, It Happens That Some Acts Are Virtuous To Some People, As Appropriate And Suitable To Them, While The Same Acts Are Immoral For Others, As Inappropriate To Them.

Any Error About Creation Also Leads To An Error About God.

As The Saints Will Rejoice In All Goods, So Will The Damned Grieve For All Goods.

The Eucharist Is The Sacrament Of Love; It Signifies Love, It Produces Love. The Eucharist Is The Consummation Of The Whole Spiritual Life.

Sorrow Can Be Alleviated By Good Sleep, A Bath And A Glass Of Wine.

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.

One Aspect Of Neighbourly Love Is That We Must Not Merely Will Our Neighbours Good, But Actually Work To Bring It About.

It Must Be Understood That Prime Matter, And Form As Well, Is Neither Generated Nor Corrupted, Because Every Generation Is From Something To Something. Now That From Which Generation Proceeds Is Matter, And That To Which It Proceeds Is Form. So That, If Matter Or Form Were Generated, There Would Be A Matter For Matter And A Form For Form, Endlessly. Whence, There Is Generation Only Of The Composite, Properly Speaking.

All Men Are Equal In Nature, And Also In Original Sin. It Is In The Merits And Demerits Of Their Actions That They Differ.

"the Jews Should Not Be Allowed To Keep What They Have Obtained From Others By Usury; It Were Best That They Were Compelled To Worked So That They Could Earn Their Living Instead Of Doing Nothing But Becoming Avaricious."

I Cannot Go On.... All That I Have Written Seems To Me Like So Much Straw Compared To What I Have Seen And What Has Been Revealed To Me.

To Virginity Is Awarded The Tribute Of The Highest Beauty

Sloth Is Sluggishness Of The Mind Which Neglects To Begin Good...it Is Evil In Its Effect, If It So Oppresses Man As To Draw Him Away Entirely From Good Deeds.

Bestow Upon Me, O Lord My God, Understanding To Know Thee, Diligence To Seek Thee, Wisdom To Find Thee, And A Faithfulness That May Finally Embrace Thee.

See To Whom Jesus Is Drawing Near, Three Kinds Of People: To Those Who Make Peace With Him, To Those Who Are Devoted To God, And To Those Who Are Kind To Their Neighbors.

If A Man Deliberately Abstains From Wine To Such An Extent That He Does Serious Harm To His Nature, He Will Not Be Free From Blame.

For In Order That Man May Do Well, Whether In The Works Of The Active Life, Or In Those Of The Contemplative Life, He Needs The Fellowship Of Friends.

Contemplative Life

It Is Necessary For The Perfection Of Human Society That There Should Be Men Who Devote Their Lives To Contemplation.

Baptism Is The Door Of The Spiritual Life And The Gateway To The Sacraments.

Clearly The Person Who Accepts The Church As An Infallible Guide Will Believe Whatever The Church Teaches.

For Just As The First General Precepts Of The Law Of Nature Are Self-evident To One In Possession Of Natural Reason, And Have No Need Of Promulgation, So Also That Of Believing In God Is Primary And Self-evident To One Who Has Faith: For He That Cometh To God Must Believe That He Is.

Man Is Closer To God According To His Existence In Grace Than He Is According To His Existence In Nature.

Godhead Here In Hiding, Whom I Adore Masked By These Bare Shadows, Shape And Nothing More, See, Lord, At Thy Service Low Lies Here A Heart Lost, All Lost In Wonder At The God Thou Art

The Knowledge Of God Is The Cause Of Things. For The Knowledge Of God Is To All Creatures What The Knowledge Of The Artificer Is To Things Made By His Art.

Knowledge Of God

Moral Science Is Better Occupied When Treating Of Friendship Than Of Justice.

Since Faith Rests Upon Infallible Truth, And Since The Contrary Of A Truth Can Never Be Demonstrated, It Is Clear That The Arguments Brought Against Faith Cannot Be Demonstrations, But Are Difficulties That Can Be Answered.

An Act Of Love Always Tends Towards Two Things; To The Good That One Wills, And To The Person For Whom One Wills It.

Venial Sin Becomes Mortal Sin When One Approves It As An End. . .

Humility Is The Mark Of A Genuine Disciple.

Grace Renders Us Like God And A Partaker Of The Divine Nature.

Faith Is God's Work Within Us.

The Things We Love Tell Us Who We Are.

The Principal Act Of Courage Is To Endure And Withstand Dangers Doggedly Rather Than To Attack Them.

Given The Sin Of Impiety Through Which They [the Romans] Sinned Against The Divine Nature [by Idolatry], The Punishment That Led Them To Sin Against Their Own Nature Followed.... I Say, Therefore, That Since They Changed Into Lies [by Idolatry] The Truth About God, He Brought Them To Ignominious Passions, That Is, To Sins Against Nature; Not That God Led Them To Evil, But Only That He Abandoned Them To Evil.

God Has No Need For Our Worship. It Is We Who Need To Show Our Gratitude For What We Have Received.

Not Everything That Is More Difficult Is More Meritorious.

Now It Seems That Everything In The World Stems From Sources Other Than God, Since The Products Of Nature Have Their Source In Nature; Deliberate Effects Can Be Traced Back To Human Reason Or Will As Their Source. There Is No Need Then To Assume That God Exists.

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.

Love Must Precede Hatred, And Nothing Is Hated Save Through Being Contrary To A Suitable Thing Which Is Loved. And Hence It Is That Every Hatred Is Caused By Love.

Arrive At Knowledge Over Small Streamlets, And Do Not Plunge Immediately Into The Ocean, Since Progress Must Go From The Easier To The More Difficult.

To Pretend Angels Do Not Exist Because They Are Invisible Is To Believe We Never Sleep Because We Don't See Ourselves Sleeping.

The Existence Of A Prime Mover- Nothing Can Move Itself; There Must Be A First Mover. The First Mover Is Called God.

Mary Means Star Of The Sea, For As Mariners Are Guided To Port By The Ocean Star, So Christians Attain To Glory Through Mary's Maternal Intercession.

Eternity Is Called Whole, Not Because It Has Parts, But Because It Is Lacking In Nothing.

It Is Necessary To Posit Something Which Is Necessary Of Itself, And Has No Cause Of Its Necessity Outside Of Itself But Is The Cause Of Necessity In Other Things. And All People Call This Thing God.

Whatever A Man Has In Superabundance Is Owed, Of Natural Right, To The Poor For Their Sustenance. So Ambrosius Says, And It Is Also To Be Found In The Decretum Gratiani: The Bread Which You Withhold Belongs To The Hungry: The Clothing You Shut Away, To The Naked: And The Money You Bury In The Earth Is The Redemption And Freedom Of The Penniless.

Love Is A Binding Force, By Which Another Is Joined To Me And Cherished By Myself.

Anger And The Like Are Attributed To God On Account Of A Similitude Of Effect. Thus, Because To Punish Is Properly The Act Of An Angry Man, God's Punishment Is Metaphorically Spoken Of As His Anger.

Here 'neath Veils, My Saviour Darkly I Behold; To My Thirsting Spirit All Thy Light Unfold; Face To Face In Heaven Let Me Come To Thee, And The Blessed Vision Of Thy Glory See.

Man Has Free Choice, Or Otherwise Counsels, Exhortations, Commands, Prohibitions, Rewards And Punishments Would Be In Vain.

It Must Be Said That Charity Can, In No Way, Exist Along With Mortal Sin.

Nothing Which Implies Contradiction Falls Under The Omnipotence Of God.

The Meaning Of What Is Said Is According To The Motive For Saying It: Because Things Are Not Subject To Speech, But Speech To Things. Therefore We Should Take Account Of The Motive Of The Lawgiver, Rather Than Of His Very Words.

Wonder Is The Desire Of Knowledge.

A Song Is The Exultation Of The Mind Dwelling On Eternal Things, Bursting Forth In The Voice.

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.

When Fear Is Excessive It Can Make Many A Man Despair.

Charity Is Not A Potency Of The Soul, Because If It Were It Would Be Natural. Nor Is It A Passion, Because It Is Not In A Sensitive Potency In Which Are All Passions. Nor Is It A Habit, Because A Habit Is Removed With Difficulty; Charity, However, Is Easily Lost Through One Act Of Mortal Sin. Therefore Charity Is Not Something Created In The Soul.

If You Seek Patience, You Will Find No Better Example Than The Cross. Great Patience Occurs In Two Ways: Either When One Patiently Suffers Much, Or When One Suffers Things Which One Is Able To Avoid And Yet Does Not Avoid. Christ Endured Much On The Cross, And Did So Patiently, Because When He Suffered He Did Not Threaten; He Was Led Like A Sheep To The Slaughter And He Did Not Open His Mouth.

There Must Be Must Be A First Mover Existing Above All – And This We Call God.

The Cross To Me Is Certain Salvation. The Cross Is That Which I Ever Adore. The Cross Of The Lord Is With Me. The Cross Is My Refuge.

The Soul Is Like An Uninhabited World That Comes To Life Only When God Lays His Head Against Us.

Right Faith Is Of Necessity Required For Baptism, Since It Is Said: "the Justice Of God Is By Faith In Jesus Christ" (romans 3:22) ... Therefore, Baptism Without Faith Avails Nothing And Thus We Must Recall That Without Faith No One Is Acceptable To God.

Man Should Not Consider His Material Possession His Own, But As Common To All, So As To Share Them Without Hesitation When Others Are In Need.

He (mohammed) Seduced The People By Promises Of Carnal Pleasure To Which The Concupiscence Of The Flesh Urges Us. His Teaching Also Contained Precepts That Were In Conformity With His Promises, And He Gave Free Rein To Carnal Pleasure. In All This, As Is Not Unexpected; He Was Obeyed By Carnal Men. As For Proofs Of The Truth Of His Doctrine, He Brought Forward Only Such As Could Be Grasped By The Natural Ability Of Anyone With A Very Modest Wisdom. Indeed, The Truths That He Taught He Mingled With Many Fables And With Doctrines Of The Greatest Falsity.

Religion Of Islam

A Man Does Not Always Choose What His Guardian Angel Intends.

The Truth Of The Christian Faith Surpasses The Capacity Of Reason.

I Would Rather Feel Compassion Than Know The Meaning Of It. I Would Hope To Act With Compassion Without Thinking Of Personal Gain.

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.

The Splendor Of A Soul In Grace Is So Seductive That It Surpasses The Beauty Of All Created Things.

The Study Of Philosophy Is Not That We May Know What Men Have Thought, But What The Truth Of Things Is.

If All The Sins Of The Flesh Are Worthy Of Condemnation Because By Them Man Allows Himself To Be Dominated By That Which He Has Of The Animal Nature, Much More Deserving Of Condemnation Are The Sins Against Nature By Which Man Degrades His Own Animal Nature.

Because The Divine Goodness Could Not Be Adequately Represented By One Creature Alone, God Produced Many And Diverse Creatures, That What Was Wanting In One In The Representation Of The Divine Goodness Might Be Supplied By Another. For Goodness, Which In God Is Simple And Uniform, In Creatures Is Manifold And Divided. Thus The Whole Universe Together Participates In The Divine Goodness More Perfectly And Represents It Better Than Any Single Creature.

The Sacrament Of The Body Of The Lord Puts The Demons To Flight, Defends Us Against The Incentives To Vice And To Concupiscence, Cleanses The Soul From Sin, Quiets The Anger Of God, Enlightens The Understanding To Know God, Inflames The Will And The Affections With The Love Of God, Fills The Memory With Spiritual Sweetness, Confirms The Entire Man In Good, Frees Us From Eternal Death, Multiplies The Merits Of A Good Life, Leads Us To Our Everlasting Home, And Re-animates The Body To Eternal Life

Affirmative Precepts Are Distinguished From Negative Whenever One Is Not Comprised In The Other; Thus, That Of Honoring Parents Does Not Comprise That Of Not Killing, And Vice Versa.

Faith Will Tell Us Christ Is Present, When Our Human Senses Fail.

The Last End Of Every Maker, As Such, Is Himself, For What We Make We Use For Our Own Sake; And If At Any Time A Man Make A Thing For The Sake Of Something Else, It Is Referred To His Own Good, Whether His Use, His Pleasure, Or His Virtue.

Happiness Is Secured Through Virtue; It Is A Good Attained By Man's Own Will.

Beware The Man Of A Single Book.

Nothing Created Has Ever Been Able To Fill The Heart Of Man. God Alone Can Fill It Infinitely.

Angels Transcend Every Religion, Every Philosophy, Every Creed. In Fact Angels Have No Religion As We Know It... Their Existence Precedes Every Religious System That Has Ever Existed On Earth.

We Must Love Them Both, Those Whose Opinions We Share And Those Whose Opinions We Reject, For Both Have Labored In The Search For Truth, And Both Have Helped Us In Finding It.

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.

Hold Firmly That Our Faith Is Identical With That Of The Ancients. Deny This, And You Dissolve The Unity Of The Church.

How Can We Live In Harmony? First We Need To Know We Are All Madly In Love With The Same God.

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.

Whatever Was In The Human Nature Of Christ Was Moved At The Bidding Of The Divine Will; Yet It Does Not Follow That In Christ There Was No Movement Of The Will Proper To Human Nature, For The Good Wills Of Other Saints Are Moved By God's Will... For Although The Will Cannot Be Inwardly Moved By Any Creature, Yet It Can Be Moved Inwardly By God.

The Theologian Considers Sin Mainly As An Offence Against God; The Moral Philosopher As Contrary To Reasonableness.

Good Can Exist Without Evil, Whereas Evil Cannot Exist Without Good.

Faith Does Not Quench Desire, But Inflames It.

We Are Like Children, Who Stand In Need Of Masters To Enlighten Us And Direct Us; God Has Provided For This, By Appointing His Angels To Be Our Teachers And Guides.

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.

I Receive Thee Ransom Of My Soul. For Love Of Thee Have I Studied And Kept Vigil Toiled Preached And Taught.

Concerning Perfect Blessedness Which Consists In A Vision Of God.

The Blessed In The Kingdom Of Heaven Will See The Punishments Of The Damned, In Order That Their Bliss Be More Delightful For Them.

It Is A Sin Directly Against One's Neighbour, Since One Man Cannot Over-abound In External Riches, Without Another Man Lacking Them.

The Greatest Kindness One Can Render To Any Man Consists In Leading Him From Error To Truth.

Friendship Is The Source Of The Greatest Pleasures, And Without Friends Even The Most Agreeable Pursuits Become Tedious.

By The Divine Providence [animals] Are Intended For Man's Use... Hence It Is Not Wrong For Man To Make Use Of Them, Either By Killing Or In Any Other Way Whatsoever.

Far Graver Is It To Corrupt The Faith That Is The Life Of The Soul Than To Counterfeit The Money That Sustains Temporal Life.

To Convert Somebody Go And Take Them By The Hand And Guide Them.

The Human Race Was In Need Of Salvation Because Of The Perversity Of Sin. For When People Who Are Ill Are Cured From Their Illness, They Are Called "saved." Therefore, The Lord Says: "your Faith Has Saved You.

Sacred Scripture, Since It Has No Science Above Itself, Can Dispute With One Who Denies Its Principles Only If The Opponent Admits Some At Least Of The Truths Obtained Through Divine Revelation; Thus We Can Argue With Heretics From Texts In Holy Writ, And Against Those Who Deny One Article Of Faith We Can Argue From Another. If Our Opponent Believes Nothing Of Divine Revelation, There Is No Longer Any Means Of Proving The Articles Of Faith By Reasoning, But Only Of Answering His Objections - If He Has Any - Against Faith.

For Those With Faith, No Evidence Is Necessary; For Those Without It, No Evidence Will Suffice.

Every Truth Without Exception- And Whoever May Utter It- Is From The Holy Spirit.

Reason In Man Is Rather Like God In The World.

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.

Behold Our Refutation Of The Error. It Is Not Based On Documents Of Faith, But On The Reasons And Statements Of The Philosophers Themselves. If Then Anyone There Be Who, Boastfully Taking Pride In His Supposed Wisdom, Wishes To Challenge What We Have Written, Let Him Not Do It In Some Corner Nor Before Children Who Are Powerless To Decide On Such Difficult Matters. Let Him Reply Openly If He Dare. He Shall Find Me There Confronting Him, And Not Only My Negligible Self, But Many Another Whose Study Is Truth.

For It Is Necessary In Every Practical Science To Proceed In A Composite (i.e. Deductive) Manner. On The Contrary In Speculative Science, It Is Necessary To Proceed In An Analytical Manner By Breaking Down The Complex Into Elementary Principles.

Scientific Method

Whenever God Wakes In Us, Our Thinking Becomes Clear - Nothing Is Missing.

The Image Of God Always Abides In The Soul, Whether This Image Be Obsolete And Clouded Over As To Amount To Almost Nothing; Or Whether It Be Obscured Or Disfigured, As Is The Case With Sinners; Or Whether It Be Clear And Beautiful As Is The Case With The Just.

Practical Sciences Proceed By Building Up; Theoretical Science By Resolving Into Components.

To Disparage The Dictate Of Reason Is Equivalent To Contemning The Command Of God.

How Is It They Live In Such Harmony The Billions Of Stars - When Most Men Can Barely Go A Minute Without Declaring War In Their Minds About Someone They Know.

He Who Is Drawn To Something Desirable Does Not Desire To Have It As A Thought But As A Thing.

Love Follows Knowledge.

Even As He Would Be Guilty Of Falsehood Who Would, In The Name Of Another Person, Proffer Things That Are Not Committed To Him, So Too Does A Man Incur The Guilt Of Falsehood Who, On The Part Of The Church, Gives Worship To God Contrary To The Manner Established By The Church Or Divine Authority, And According To Ecclesiastical Custom.

Even As In The Blessed In Heaven There Will Be Most Perfect Charity, So In The Damned There Will Be The Most Perfect Hate. Wherefore As The Saints Will Rejoice In All Goods, So Will The Damned Grieve For All Goods. Consequently The Sight Of The Happiness Of The Saints Will Give Them Very Great Pain.

Beauty Adds To Goodness A Relation To The Cognitive Faculty: So That "good" Means That Which Simply Pleases The Appetite; While The "beautiful" Is Something Pleasant To Apprehend.

For Loving Draws Us More To Things Than Knowing Does, Since Good Is Found By Going To The Thing, Whereas The True Is Found When The Thing Comes To Us.

Future Contingents Cannot Be Certain To Us, Because We Know Them As Such. They Can Be Certain Only To God Whose Understanding Is In Eternity Above Time. Just As A Man Going Along A Road Does Not See Those Who Come After Him; But The Man Who Sees The Whole Road From A Height Sees All Those Who Are Going Along The Road At The Same Time.

To Teach In Order To Lead Others To Faith Is The Task Of Every Preacher And Of Each Believer.

Being Born He Have Himself As Our Companion, Eating With Us He Gave Himself As Food, Dying He Became Our Ransom, Reigning He Gives Himself As Our Reward

Mistakes Are Made On Two Counts: An Argument Is Either Based On Error Or Incorrectly Developed.

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.

That The Saints May Enjoy Their Beatitude And The Grace Of God More Abundantly They Are Permitted To See The Punishment Of The Damned In Hell.

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Robert Grosseteste

Lyndon B. Johnson

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