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
The magnitude of the punishment matches the magnitude of the sin. Now a sin that is against God is infinite; the higher the person against whom it is committed, the graver the sin-it is more criminal to strike a head of state than a private citizen-and God is of infinite greatness. Therefore an infinite punishment is deserved for a sin committed against Him.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the seriousness of sins against God, stating that greater wrongs lead to greater punishments.
Thomas Aquinas argues that the severity of a sin is proportional to the greatness of the being it is committed against. Since God is of infinite greatness, any sin against Him warrants infinite punishment, just as striking a ruler is seen as more grievous than harming an ordinary person due to the higher authority and significance of the ruler.
In practice
In a discussion about justice and morality, one might quote this to highlight the seriousness of moral transgressions.
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.
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.
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.
A song is the exultation of the mind dwelling on eternal things, bursting forth in the voice.
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.
To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.
They are so filthy and bestial that no honest man would admit one into his house for a water-closet doormat.
Well,’ I said, ‘Paris is old, is many centuries. You feel, in Paris, all the time gone by. That isn’t what you feel in New York — ’He was smiling. I stopped. ‘What do you feel in New York?’ he asked. ‘Perhaps you feel,’ I told him, ‘all the time to come. There’s such power there, everything is in such movement. You can’t help wondering—I can’t help wondering—what it will all be like— many years from now.
He lay on his chair with his hands clasped above his paunch not reading, or sleeping, but basking like a creature gorged with existence.
Where's evil? It's that large part of every man that wants to hate without limit, that wants to hate with God on its side.
The best of America drifts to Paris. The American in Paris is the best American. It is more fun for an intelligent person to live in an intelligent country. France has the only two things toward which we drift as we grow older—intelligence and good manners.
Ugly deeds are taught by ugly deeds.
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