Recently we have had some interesting discussions between atheists and religious people on some of our lists. This has inspired me to write a series of lists on topics relating to both sides of the story. To start with, I am doing this list of 15 of the most brilliant quotes from Saint Thomas Aquinas. Thomas Aquinas was one of the greatest theological thinkers of the 13th century. His impact on Christianity was so immense that his writings are still at the core of Roman Catholic seminary education. He is the foremost classical proponent of natural theology, and the father of the Thomistic school of philosophy and theology.
Quotes 1 – 5
1. A man has free choice to the extent that he is rational.
2. All the efforts of the human mind cannot exhaust the essence of a single fly.
3. 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.
4. Better to illuminate than merely to shine, to deliver to others contemplated truths than merely to contemplate.
5. By nature all men are equal in liberty, but not in other endowments.
Quotes 6 – 10
6. Faith has to do with things that are not seen and hope with things that are not at hand.
7. How can we live in harmony? First we need to know we are all madly in love with the same God.
8. 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.
9. It is requisite for the relaxation of the mind that we make use, from time to time, of playful deeds and jokes.
10. Love takes up where knowledge leaves off.
Quotes 11 – 15
11. 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.
12. The things that we love tell us what we are.
13. 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.
14. To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.
15. Wonder is the desire for knowledge.
Talking about religious quotes, I saw a hilarious quote by the Pope in the paper the other day.
About atheism: "It is no accident that this idea has led to the greatest forms of cruelty and violations of justice"
It's not really that funny on its own, but when it's coming from the leader of the Catholic church…
It’s all a matter of your preferred historical point of view. Isn’t everything relative?
not if you like facts
14. To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.
*exactly*
10. Love takes up where knowledge leaves off.
*love does prevail*
12. The things that we love tell us what we are.
*or the people. which means i am above all else, a mommie.*
wonderful list J. course i’m looking forward to what you post re: atheism.
My money says it’s going to be a list of Dawkins quotes, not that that troll can hold a candle to Aquinas.
Favorite quote was #14. Good list, j.
5. By nature all men are equal in liberty, but not in other endowments.
That cheeky bastard.
JT, I was thinking the same thing!
“By nature all men are equal in liberty, but not in other endowments. Nudge, nudge. Wink, wink”
I think it was Aquinas who said, “We all have a paking space at the ‘House of the Lord’ but, you are not allowed to park in mine up in the front row.” Or maybe that was Martin Luther?
FekketCantenel – I will probably avoid Dawkins – his first book was fine, but then he went on a rant and lost credibility in my eyes. I will try to find a great mind from history. Suggestions welcome.
DanOhh: Aquinas was a very humble man – that sounds very unlike him. Luther, on the other hand, was far from humble – I would say it was him
JT: I thought I was the only one who was thinking pervertedly…lol glad to see I’m not the only dirty mind.
How about Voltaire? He has some excellent quotations about atheism, and he’s well respected by everyone.
I love these lists of quotes! But I’d have to say that I disagree with him on 10. =/ Hate does more often I think. But yeah, there are some really good ones here, even for those who don’t really…eh…worship. =)
Canuck: was Voltaire an atheist? I thought he believed in God but rejected formal religion.
Great another boring quotes list by someone I don’t know!
just noticed its the only list that counts up
Well, now that I think of it that is true. But still, his quotations on dogma, fanatics, witch hunting, blindly following what others tell you to do and tolerance are all very good.
David Hume perhaps?
If you want to do quotes by atheists/secularists but don’t want to do Dawkins (I personally love him but w/e) then Nietzsche and Russell are always good bets. Epicurus has a few quotes too. And maybe even Carl Sagan.
I’ve made up some good religious quotes eg:
Scientology is the retarded kid in a room full of losers.
hahah great philosophy it’s
very clover great comment deserve great admiration thats my philosophy
Okay – thanks for the suggestions guys – I think the next one will be fun.
“To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible. ”
isnt that the truth…
To one who has faith, no explanation is heard. To one without faith, an explanation is necessary.
This is more like it.
Best Aethiest quote ever as far as i know it was from House but it may have been taken from somthing else
“Rational arguments don’t usually work on religious people. Otherwise, there would be no religious people.”
I love this quotes except #11 which makes me wonder, who permitted the saint to see the punishment of the damned in hell? Unless he personally talk to God himself…then..besides, it sounds a bit sadistic to me.
The agnostic historian Will Durant, in his 11-volume “History of Civilization,” informs us that this quote is not found in any of Aquinas’s extant writings.
Mikerodz: much of his writing was based upon the beliefs and teachings of the early Church fathers – so presumably Jesus must have shared that information with the apostles. Additionally – a lot of his ideas also came from logical conclusions based upon other dogmas of the Church. For example:
God says: All dogs are black
I see a white animal with four legs and a wagging tail – even though God didn’t say it was not a dog directly, I know it is not a dog because it is not black.
Simplistic – but you get the point I am sure
Well put and said Jamie.
Mikerodz: thanks
You’re right oh so clever Dangorironhide, compared to Hitler’s Third Reich – 6 million murdered in the camps, 72 million dead world wide in WWII, Stalin’s Soviet Union – 60 million dead in purges, collectivization and man made famines, Mao’s Red China – 30 million dead also with purges, collectivization and man made famines, Pol Pot’s Cambodia – 2.3 million people murdered in the killing fields out of a population of 7 million, and North Korea under the oh so clever policies of Kim Jong Il lost 3.5 million men, women and children to famine in the 1990s – the Catholic Church is the most blood soaked institution in the history of the universe.
Clues abound on the Internet, see if you can find yourself one.
These quotes reach out to me more than the one’s above
You never know how much you really believe anything until its truth or falsehood become a matter of life and death to you. – C. S. Lewis
Make sure the thing you’re living for is worth dying for. – Charles Mayes
No statue has ever been erected to a critic. – Jean Sibelius
Remember death and the attractions of life will fade away before you. – Shenouda III
Too many of us have a Christian vocabulary rather than a Christian experience. – Charles F. Banning
I love these quotes…
I don’t know anything more true than 14.
And I feel bad for all the ignorant people who think it’s intelligent to call people with a religion losers.
We have a varying opinion from you…no need to insult us. Believe me, I’ve put much thought into my religion, I do not follow it blindly. I have my reasons for practicing it.
Also, well put el duderino.
Quote 11 is complete bull*****. It depicts a spiteful angry God.
Dangorironhide, “It is no accident that [atheism] has led to the greatest forms of cruelty and violations of justice” – It's not so ridiculous when you start to do some research on the justification some people give for their crimes. I mean, doesn't it make sense to think that if someone doesn't believe in God that person doesn't have to answer to anyone, and so loses their sense of morality? That's exactly what happened in those school shootings in Europe and USA. They figure "Humans are just another form of coincident chemical reactions and are nothing more than a highly evolved animal. HEY, we kill animals and eat them, so why should killing the human animal be such an issue?"
So look at it closely and it's not such a crazy statement AT ALL.
It is not crazy but it is myopic. Ask Salman Rushdie, talk to a holocost survivor, read a little something about the crusades and you’ll undertand the irony!
Reg: Aquinas was a Catholic theologian and philosopher – the Catholic Church (along with the Jews and the Orthodox) believes in hell – it would make sense that Aquinas would talk about it. Also – they don’t believe it makes God angry or spiteful – they believe it makes him just – true justice is when the good are rewarded and the bad punished.
This very same stupid guy came to the conclusion that worms were spontaneously created on a dead body. Ja! Pendejo!
Reg,
If you think that depicts a spiteful angry God you should stay away from the Old Testament.
Most of these quotes wouldn’t look out of place on one of those tacky motivational posters.
15. Wonder is the desire for knowledge.
Eh, no it’s not, curiosity is the desire for knowledge. I’ve often heard religious people complaining that knowing the details of something makes its less special, the “miracle” of child birth for just one example.
Here’s the path that theologins take,
1) Get brought up to believe in X religion.
2) Spent rest of life looking for justification for belief in X.
I mean, can any Christian on this board honestly say that if they were born into a Jewish family (or Muslim,Buddhist etc,etc) they wouldn’t spend their life happily believing in Judaism?
If you were born in Europe 3000 years ago, right now you’d be running around naked howling at the winter moon with the rest of them.
JFrater – im jewish, although hardly (i turned atheist almost immediately after being bar mitzvahed) but i thought that the jews didn’t believe in hell?
el dude – the church might not have directly killed as many people as those other institutions but they have consented to or authorized just as many.
Its not exactly great to look at it this way but the catholic church is also widely responsible for AIDs, through its stance on birth control.
I find it odd when people confuse political systems with philosophical/theological ways of thinking. Because philosophically the USSR was atheistic it follows that their political system was an atheistic government? Hardly. Hitler was a devout christian, and maintained the Third Reich was a christian movement. There is no church or religion of atheism. It is a naturalistic philosophical view, that proposes humanistic and natural motives for things like “morality”. It does not follow that a lack of belief in an invisible designer or creator leads precisely to inhumanity or immorality. The fact that some governments that happened to not believe in the Christian god, or any god committed atrocities is not evidence that they did so because of that lack of belief. That is logically erroneous. Many of the same people who committed these atrocities were meat eaters. Would you then posit that meat eating is makes one immoral? Or would you have the record of atrocities committed in the name of various gods expunged? Read the eighth quote above to see the cause of these horrific deeds. Man’s inhumanity to man, regardless the philosophy of the criminal.
Indeed B8ovin. And interesting enough, the statistics for ‘immorality’ as caused by governments believing or not in any religion are actually pretty revealing. Look up european life statistics vs american life statistics in relation to religion.
as for you, Reg123456:
“Dangorironhide, “It is no accident that [atheism] has led to the greatest forms of cruelty and violations of justice” – It’s not so ridiculous when you start to do some research on the justification some people give for their crimes. I mean, doesn’t it make sense to think that if someone doesn’t believe in God that person doesn’t have to answer to anyone, and so loses their sense of morality? That’s exactly what happened in those school shootings in Europe and USA. They figure “Humans are just another form of coincident chemical reactions and are nothing more than a highly evolved animal. HEY, we kill animals and eat them, so why should killing the human animal be such an issue?”
So look at it closely and it’s not such a crazy statement AT ALL.”
that is a pretty illogical stance there, wouldn’t you agree?
especially this line…..”I mean, doesn’t it make sense to think that if someone doesn’t believe in God that person doesn’t have to answer to anyone, and so loses their sense of morality?”
Morality is something religions do not actively demonstrate. In fact, most religions are downright hypocritical when it comes to such matters.
As for what this does to humanity and why there should be no religion, go to this website
By the way, the pope must have never heard of a little thing called the crusades or the spanish inquisition if he said something like that…
#14 is a great example of how religions (with the help of pompous theologians like Aquinas) have developed increasingly better ways to totally immunize themselves with *criticism* – notice that #14, if consistent, ought to apply to *every* belief one takes only on faith. It’s the most ridiculous I’ve heard: trivially true, in one sense, ans trivially false, in another. So stupid.
bpower said:
“If you were born in Europe 3000 years ago, right now you’d be running around naked howling at the winter moon with the rest of them.”
No, if you were born in Europe 3000 years ago, right now you’d be a very old corpse. By the way, just what is wrong with running around naked and howling at the winter moon?
It seems to me that T. Aquinas had an epiphany at one point, and suddenly saw god more clearly. Possibly. Anyway, if I remember correctly, what he said was “All that I have written is straw.”
Is it possible that all the verbally abusive atheists that hit the blogs are actually former judgmental Baptists? Bertrand Russell said that you can tell what kind of a Christian you WERE by the kind of atheist you ARE.
If you now think religion is baloney, then you should be able to be tolerate it with more equanimity. There are lots of baloney-ious belief systems around, but I only hear you complaining about one. If you are really rational (and not just angry about having to go to Sunday School) then you should act like it.
From one atheist to another, for God’s sake, make peace with it and get on with you life.
devilishgrin66: Orthodox Jews believe in Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory – just as Catholics do.
It does not matter what one believes. The only thing that matters is what is true. Avoid belief and strive to learn what’s real. All mystics are liars.
Thomas Aquinas pwns.
I am very much an agnostic. It is not so much that I don’t believe in God, I just don’t believe in organized religion.
Did evolution occur? Yes
Does that mean that there’s no God? No
But does that mean that simply being a Non-Christian is a crime that warrants infinite punishment? Give me a break.
captai jerry is right all mystics are liars
number 6 from hebrews 11 in the bible
Beautiful quotes. I don’t even know who this guy is, but very deep. I like the one about the stars living in harmony, when humans can’t.
A great thinker.
My favorite wasn’t on the list:
“Lord, in my zeal for the love of truth, let me not forget the truth about love”
– St. Thomas Aquinas
It does not matter what one believes…
The only thing that matters is phenomena – the material – the real.
All mysticism comes from the minds of men – stories and myth – lies.
All rationalism comes from attempting to understand the material universe.
One has a choice which to believe, stories or science. One leads to the Dark Ages and the other leads to progress.
“To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible” – Think of “faith” as ‘Will, Love & Toleration’ and 99.999999% of all useless disputes of humanity would’ve been avoided. Of course explanation takes time and time is money… let’s not get into that. I already feel like punching someone again!
“To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary…”
This really says it all, and simply means nothing is required for one to be crazy.
If one listens to mystics, absolutely anything can be taken seriously from pink elephants to pixies to gods. Faith is another way of admitting that you’re nuts but still want to be taken seriously. Faith is the willingness to believe the untrue and unprovable. Faith is the ability to remove logic and rationality from your philosophy. Faith is a liability in our lives, while science, logic and rationality are assets.
Per your quote: “Think of “faith” as ‘Will, Love & “Toleration’ and 99.999999% of all useless disputes of humanity would’ve been avoided.”
Ah yes, the big lie is still told to this day while the facts prove the opposite.
Most human conflicts have been waged in the name of faith based religious wars. The Crusades are just one sad example and the Middle East today is yet another comment on the scourge of faith.
Faith, or belief in mysticism is one of mans most basic and original errors of thought. Once the mind is infected with faith, the brain is capable of believing almost any lie.
@Captain Jerry
Science can tell you what is, not what should be.
The casual discarding of the culmination of human thought, on the science of thought itself, which is to say Philosophy, is not logical.
Ask an artist what role scientific discovery played in their paintings or sculptures, or a poet his poems. The answers will be met first with a perplexing look, and at most a comment on pigments, brushes or chisels.
That unexplainable aspect, that humanity is what man has pondered since his ability to do so became apparent.
I don’t need to know biologically why I am feeling happy, sad, or excited, although I am aware of peptides, I do not need to approach with suspicion, my own humanity. I for one will allow myself to be HUMAN.
The world you envision is sterile, and horrific. This is why you will never prevail.
Colncerning # 11; that the Saints in heaven are PERMITTED to view the self-inflicted sufferings of those who deliberately choose to oppose God, the emphasis should be on the word “permitted”. A major benefit of heaven is the free access to God’s knowledge. For the Saints, there is no censorship. They are free to know, for example, how innocents on earth have suffered at the hands of unjust men. I rather suppose that, like us, they will not choose to exercise this freedom very much at all. For more, please see http://www.ageoftheology.com
To Commodianus:
Per your quote; “The world you envision is sterile, and horrific. This is why you will never prevail.”
The world I envision is beautiful, larger, and far more complex than human myths.
Truth prevails.
Reality prevails.
Mysticism fails.
Try rationality – unlike mysticism, it actually works…
@Captain Jerry
Love works.
As for more complex, you’ll never make a dent in the infinite language of God. Genetics, Cosmology, biology. It will never be “settled”.
The most you can do is make small advances, and enjoy.
Peace.
Since I attend a Catholic university named after St. Thomas Aquinas (University of St. Thomas, Houston) I think I should stand up for the man. For all those who enjoy Catholic bashing, and religion bashing in general, I beg of you to not accuse in ignorance. Check out the facts http://www.catholicapologetics.org/ is a good site as is newadvent and wikipedia.
dangorironhide: Catholics have a very strong stance on justice. I am sorry you do not agree with it. People do make bad judgment calls. The Church may not have always made the best decisions, but we have asked forgiveness of groups we persecuted and ask that we are not judged for our transgressions just as we try not to judge others.
Reg123456: God showed St. Therese of Avila souls falling into hell like leaves falling off a tree in autumn to show the reality of hell and that people actually can go to hell which in turn should motivate us to turn away from sin and into the light. He is not a spiteful God, just the opposite, He cares for us more than anything.
devilishgrin66: The Church’s stance on birth control is Natural Family Planning. Which can be abused in the same way that the pill and other birth control’s are used. Afterall, only abstinence is 100% effective against all STDs and pregnancy 100% of the time.
Captain Jerry: Please go read the lists of the Middle Ages. Please.
Peace be with you all and God Bless you.
Commodianus my friend and brother. I agree with you. Love works as it works in my life alongside with awe and wonder.
The point is myth and religion do not work. The toxic effects are proven by history. For an example of the harm of mysticism today, simply examine the strife in the Middle East. A religious war is an oxymoron, and yet humans still engage in the insanity. To employ any mysticism-superstition-religion to filter human thought is to use the exact wrong tools to understand our environment and our place in the universe.
Mystics always claim to know, yet know nothing.
@Captain Jerry:
I’m not going to get into a statistics war here, but suffice it to say that LACK of religion could be argued to have killed as many and more.
Guns don’t kill. People do.
As a Catholic, Aquinas believed in faith and reason. I doubt you could understand his works and come to a different conclusion. I furthermore doubt you could read his works and find justification for violence. But that’s because I’m operating on the assumption you are sane.
Men bend religion to their desires: Not the other way around.
I can’t find many examples of wars fought without religion. Perhaps you can? However, there is an almost endless list of religious wars.
Guns don’t kill people? I suppose atomic bombs don’t kill people either? If everyone had a nuke tomorrow, I doubt if we could count the dead. Would we say that the nukes didn’t kill? Simply because a human pushed the button does not mean the nuke/gun didn’t do the killing.
The point of all of this is that religion kills. Religion is the gun/nuke/bomb/death machine. Religion tells us lies, not truth. And yet, religious people always (and I do mean always) tell us only their particular brand of superstition is the truth, no matter how different it is from other religions.
Science does not claim ultimate truths. Science is universal. Religion is cultural and local. Science is humble and strives to understand reality while religion/superstition is supremely arrogant by always falsely claiming to know truths.
Despite the Sunday school hoopla, in all the world there is not one clearly provable case of anything mystical. NOT ONE!
If someone wants to believe in superstition/religion there is virtually nothing which can be said, no facts that can be presented, no argument that can persuade. Folks that ‘believe’ want to believe what they were told to believe and are less concerned with actual truth. The provable is less important to a religious/superstitious mind than a reality based rational philosophy.
Men make, and create religion. Let go of your fear. There is no magic man up in the sky watching you, or granting wishes. The real universe is far more complex, interesting and wonderful than silly made up stories.
Peace be with you…
Captain Jerry:
60 million Chinese butchered by Mao.
2 million Cambodians murdered by Pol Pot.
6 million Ukrainians slaughtered by Stalin.
Tens of millions of other Soviet citizens killed by Stalin’s Soviet Union.
Atheist Nations give us a fine example. Do they not?
One Million+ Tibetans killed by the Chinese;
Million-plus Afghans put to death by Brezhnev’s Soviet Union.
Again friend, your statements make me wonder if your knowledge when it comes to religion are anything but superficial. I see hints of Harris and Dawkins when you type. Both of which are complete ignoramuses when it comes to theological study. This is not to say you are one, but if those are your teachers I suggest you may have a big problem.
Well done. If your point is that atheistic nations kill, I agree. The question becomes why religious nations use it to kill over nonsensical reasons.
I feel that we both agree that leaders employ religion/superstition to motivate others to maim and kill. Why does religion allow these horrors for their own sake? I’m thinking of the crusades here. Become one of us our die. How gratifying!
Clearly then, religion has little, or no affect on morality, and so, what good does all the story telling do? Why does religion/superstition need to lie? I attempt to be an honest and moral man in my endeavors. Belief in gods, god, pixies, spirits, ghosts and other childlike tales is not at all required for altruistic behaviors. Every non-believer I know personally seems to be a good, deeper-thinking, caring person to me.
As for Harris I know nothing about him although I have heard of Dawkins, but only superficially – a few moments on TV. Perhaps you can give me the full name of Harris?
I am not qualified to call an educated human an ignoramus, but I do know Dawkins is hated by the angry Christian Right which is almost a commendation. grin…
For your edification, I was raised Catholic and went to religious schools on and off until college and grad school. There was virtually no point in my life when I ‘believed.’ I do not mean to insult anyone, and although I keep it to myself I find the term belief somewhat repulsive. People can believe in anything as proven by the diversity and stark differences of the religions of the world.
As for the current god de jour in whatever religion one examines, why is one correct and all the others incorrect? One thing common to all religious/superstitious thought is that all the other religions are wrong, especially non-believers. Arrogance is common in most forms of superstition/religion. My gods are the right gods and your gods are the wrong gods, and so on…
In any event, have a nice day my friend.
PS: I live in the mountains of Virginia and Key West. How about you? I’m a retired airline pilot. 62