Good 'ol Tommy A.

A good friend recently recalled Thomas Aquinas to my mind. Volumes have been written by this great thinker--and undoubtedly volumes more will follow. For today, I offer you all a few quotations--plucked from his vast corpus literi--by this most intellectual of saints in an attempt to introduce him to those of you who know him not, and inspire those familiar with his work to read him again.

"If the highest aim of a captain were to preserve his ship, he would keep it in port forever."

"It is requisite for the relaxation of the mind that we make use, from time to time, of playful deeds and jokes."

"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."

"Man cannot live without joy; therefore when he is deprived of true spiritual joys it is necessary that he become addicted to carnal pleasures. "

"Not everything that is more difficult is more meritorious."

"Perfection of moral virtue does not wholly take away the passions, but regulates them."

"Reason in man is rather like God in the world."

"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."

"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."

"There are wars where no one marches with a flag, though that does not keep casualties from mounting. Our hearts irrigate this earth. We are fields before each other."

"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."

"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."

"Whatever is received is received according to the nature of the recipient."

There is so much more. Discover him, if you will.

Be Well,
Huckleberry