"Whatever a man has in superabundance is..." - Quote by Thomas Aquinas
Whatever a man has in superabundance is owed, of natural right, to the poor for their sustenance.
More by Thomas Aquinas
“Do not wish to jump immediately from the streams to the sea, because one has to go through easier things to the more difficult.”
“Happiness is secured through virtue; it is a good attained by man's own will.”
“Good and evil are essential differences of the act of the will. For good and evil pertain essentially to the will; just as truth and falsehood pertain to the reason, the act of which is distinguished essentially by the difference of truth and falsehood (according as we say that an opinion is true or false.) Consequently, good and evil volition are acts differing in species.”
More on Charity
“Be grateful that the poor man is there, so that by making a gift to him you are able to help yourself”
“Some show their kindness to the poor by employing them in their kitchens. Would they not be kinder if they employed themselves there?”
“All men naturally hate each other. We have used concupiscence as best we can to make it serve the common good, but this is mere sham and a false image of charity, for essentially it is just hate.”
More on Justice
“I think that we must face the fact that in reality, you cannot have economic and political equality without having some form of social equality. I think this is inevitable.”
“The very idea of freedom presupposes some objective moral law which overarches rulers and ruled alike. Subjectivism about moral values is eternally incompatible with democracy. We and our rulers are of one kind only so long as we are subject to one law. But if there is no Law of Nature, the ethos of any society is the creation of its rulers, educators and conditioners; and every creator stands above and outside his own creation.”
“I'm concerned about a better world. I'm concerned about justice; I'm concerned about brotherhood; I'm concerned about truth. And when one is concerned about that, he can never advocate violence. For through violence you may murder a murderer, but you can't murder murder. Through violence you may murder a liar, but you can't establish truth. Through violence you may murder a hater, but you can't murder hate through violence. Darkness cannot put out darkness; only light can do that.”