QuoteProject
Reason in man is rather like God in the world.
Thomas Aquinas
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

This quote suggests that human rationality is akin to divine presence in the universe, guiding and enriching life.

Thomas Aquinas draws a parallel between reason in humanity and the concept of God in the world, indicating that just as God is a fundamental force in the universe, guiding and sustaining it, human reason is essential for understanding and navigating our lives. This comparison highlights the importance of rational thought as a divine-like quality that shapes human existence and our moral framework.

Themes

ReasonHumanityGodPhilosophyGuidance

In practice

Example use cases

In a discussion about the role of reason in moral decisions during a philosophy class.

More from Thomas Aquinas

To bear with patience wrongs done to oneself is a mark of perfection, but to bear with patience wrongs done to someone else is a mark of imperfection and even of actual sin.
Thomas AquinasRead
Law is nothing other than a certain ordinance of reason for the common good, promulgated by the person who has the care of the community.
Thomas AquinasRead
Now this relaxation of the mind from work consists on playful words or deeds. Therefore it becomes a wise and virtuous man to have recourse to such things at times.
Thomas AquinasRead
A song is the exultation of the mind dwelling on eternal things, bursting forth in the voice.
Thomas AquinasRead
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.
Thomas AquinasRead
To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.
Thomas AquinasRead

Similar quotes

Who is also aware of the tremendous risk involved in faith - when he nevertheless makes the leap of faith - this [is] subjectivity ... at its height.
Soren KierkegaardRead
Religion is a system of wishful illusions together with a disavowal of reality, such as we find nowhere else but in a state of blissful hallucinatory confusion. Religion's eleventh commandment is "Thou shalt not question."
Sigmund FreudRead
A person of good intelligence and of sensitivity cannot exist in this society very long without having some anger about the inequality - and it's not just a bleeding-heart, knee-jerk, liberal kind of a thing - it is just a normal human reaction to a nonsensical set of values where we have cinnamon flavored dental floss and there are people sleeping in the street.
George CarlinRead
Christian creeds and doctrines, the clergy's own fatal inventions, through all the ages has made of Christendom a slaughterhouse, and divided it into sects of inextinguishable hatred for one another.
Thomas JeffersonRead
My respect for human beings is based not on the colour of a man’s skin nor authority he may wield, but purely on merit.
Nelson MandelaRead
The idea of governing at all times by the simple force of law (which we have been told is the only admissible principle of republican government) has no place but in the reveries of those political doctors whose sagacity disdains the admonitions of experimental instruction.
Alexander HamiltonRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.