R.S. Thomas Quotes

Beauty is like an almanack: if it lasts a year it is well.

Let us not make the poor our friends by our alms, not our enemies by our scorns. We had better have the ears of God full of their prayers, than heaps of money in our own coffers with their curses.

Sins are so remitted, as if they had never been committed.

Death is as near to the young as to the old; here is all the difference: death stands behind the young man's back, before the old man's face.

Woman takes her being from man, man takes his well being from woman.

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.

The existence of a prime mover- nothing can move itself; there must be a first mover. The first mover is called God.

Unbelief is the greatest of sins.

The greatness of the human being consists in this: that it is capable of the universe.

Rarely affirm, seldom deny, always distinguish.

There is no leisure about politics.

He who does not embrace the teaching of the Church does not have the habit of faith.

Venial sin becomes mortal sin when one approves it as an end. . .

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.

There being an imminent danger for the faith, prelates must be questioned, even publicly, by their subjects.

Art is right reason in the doing of work.

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.

The proper task of the Savior is that he is a savior; indeed, for this he came into the world: to seek and save what was lost.

Sing, my tongue, the Saviour's glory, Of His Flesh, the mystery sing; Of the Blood, all price exceeding, Shed by our Immortal King, Destined, for the world's redemption, From a noble Womb to spring.

Theology is taught by God, teaches God, and leads to God.

To the Everlasting Father, And the Son who made us free And the Spirit, God proceeding From them Each eternally, Be salvation, honour, blessing, Might and endless majesty.

The splendor of a soul in grace is so seductive that it surpasses the beauty of all created things.

O how unspeakable is this Sacrament which sets our affections ablaze with charity. ... It is the fulfillment of Christ's Mystical Body.

All the efforts of the human mind cannot exhaust the essence of a single fly.

The servants of God...whether provoked by word or work, by keeping themselves tranquil and peaceful, evince a perfect nobleness of soul.

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.

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.

I cannot understand how anyone conscious of mortal sin can laugh or be merry.

Grace renders us like God and a partaker of the divine nature.

This Blood that but one drop of has the power to win all the world forgiveness of its world of sin.

As mariners are guided into port by the shining of a star, so Christians are guided to heaven by Mary.

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.

The news is staged, anticipated, reported, analyzed until all interest is wrung from it and abandoned for some new novelty.

I have long been convinced that institutions purely democratic must, sooner or later, destroy liberty or civilization, or both.

The highest intellects, like the tops of mountains, are the first to catch and to reflect the dawn.

We deplore the outrages which accompany revolutions. But the more violent the outrages, the more assured we feel that a revolution was necessary.

Men are never so likely to settle a question rightly as when they discuss it freely.

The business of everybody is the business of nobody.

And to say that society ought to be governed by the opinion of the wisest and best, though true, is useless. Whose opinion is to decide who are the wisest and best?

The hearts of men are their books; events are their tutors; great actions are their eloquence.

It is good to be often reminded of the inconsistency of human nature, and to learn to look without wonder or disgust on the weaknesses which are found in the strongest minds.

Everybody's business is nobody's business.

I don't mind your thinking slowly; I mind your publishing faster than you think.

She thoroughly understands what no other Church has ever understood, how to deal with enthusiasts.

I shall cheerfully bear the reproach of having descended below the dignity of history.

The reluctant obedience of distant provinces generally costs more than it - The Territory is worth. Empires which branch out widely are often more flourishing for a little timely pruning.

The knowledge of the theory of logic has no tendency whatever to make men good reasoners.

History distinguishes what is accidental and transitory in human nature from what is essential and immutable.

Reform, that we may preserve.

The effect of violent dislike between groups has always created an indifference to the welfare and honor of the state.