On Law, Morality and Politics, 2nd Edition Quotes

“We should eliminate sin if we wish to eliminate the scourge of tyrants.”
― Thomas Aquinas, On Law, Morality and Politics, 2nd Edition

“At the time when everyone in Syracuse desired the death of Dionysius, an elderly woman prayed over and over that he would be unharmed and outlive her. And after the tyrant learned about this, he asked her why she did so. Then the woman said: 'When I was a girl, we had an oppressive tyrant, and I wished for another ruler. And after the tyrant was killed, a harsher one succeeded the latter shortly afterwards, and I thought that it would be a great blessing if the successor's rule would also be terminated. We then had a still harsher ruler, yourself. And so if you were removed, a worse tyrant will replace you'.”
― Thomas Aquinas, On Law, Morality and Politics, 2nd Edition

“Tyrannical governance is unjust, since it is ordered to the private good of the ruler, not to the common good . . . And so disturbance of such governance does not have the character of rebellion . . . Rather, tyrants, who by seeking greater domination incite discontent and rebellion in the people subject to the them, are the rebels.”
― Thomas Aquinas, On Law, Morality and Politics, 2nd Edition

“Human beings are by their nature social and political, living in community even more than every other animal.”
― Thomas Aquinas, On Law, Morality and Politics, 2nd Edition

“...There are some unbelievers who never embraced the faith (e.g., pagans and Jews). And such unbelievers should never be compelled to embrace the faith, to believe, since belief is proper to the individual's own will. But the faithful should compel them, if possible not to hinder the faith, whether by blasphemies or wicked influences or open persecution. And so the Christian faithful often wage war against unbelievers in order to compel the latter not to hinder the faith, not indeed to compel them to embrace the faith, since unbelievers would remain free to decide whether they wanted to believe even if the faithful were to conquer them and hold them captive.”
― Thomas Aquinas, On Law, Morality and Politics, 2nd Edition

“We call laws just from three perspectives: (1) from their end, namely, when they are ordained for the common good; (2) from their authority, namely, when the laws enacted do not surpass the power of the lawmakers; (3) from their form, namely, when they impose proportionately equal burdens on citizens for the common good.”
― Thomas Aquinas, On Law, Morality and Politics, 2nd Edition

“The best institution of rulers belongs to a city or kingdom in which one person is chosen by reason of his virtue to rule over all, and other persons govern under him by reason of their virtue. And yet such a regime belongs to all citizens, both because its rulers are chosen from the citizens, and because all citizens choose its rulers. For this is the best constitution, a happy mixture of kingdom, since one person rules; and of aristocracy, since many govern by reason of their virtue; and of democracy (i.e., government by the people), since rulers can be chosen from the people, and since the choice of rulers belongs to the people.”
― Thomas Aquinas, On Law, Morality and Politics, 2nd Edition

“The rich do not act improperly if they before others take possession of property that was in the beginning common and share the property with others. But the rich sin if they indiscriminately prevent others from using the property.”
― Thomas Aquinas, On Law, Morality and Politics, 2nd Edition

“At the time when everyone in Syracuse desired the death of Dionysius, an elderly woman prayed over and over that he would be unharmed and outlive her. And after the tyrant learned about this, he asked her why she did so. Then the woman said: 'When I was a girl, we had an oppressive tyrant, and I wished for another ruler. And after the tyrant was killed, a harsher one succeeded the latter shortly afterwards, and I thought that it would be a great blessing if the successor's rule would also be terminated. We then had a still harsher ruler, yourself. And so if you were removed, a worse tyrant will replace you.”
― Thomas Aquinas, On Law, Morality and Politics, 2nd Edition

“Shepherds of the flock should . . . seek the good of their flock, and every ruler the good of the people subject to him.”
― Thomas Aquinas, On Law, Morality and Politics, 2nd Edition

“Three things are required for a war to be just. Indeed, the first requirement is that the ruler at whose command the war is to be waged have the lawful authority to do so. . . . Second, there needs to be a just cause to wage war, namely, that the enemy deserve to have war waged against it because of some wrong it has inflicted. . . . Third, those waging war need to have a right intention, namely, an intention to promote good and avoid evil.”
― Thomas Aquinas, On Law, Morality and Politics, 2nd Edition