Thomas Aquinas

Female subordination... is not a result of the fall, but part of the created order. Such female subordination, he argues, is actually 'for their own benefit and good.'

Strictly speaking, woman is a monster of nature.

In procreation the man is active, the woman is passive.

The rites of other infidels, which bear no truth or profit, are not to be tolerated in the same way, except perhaps to avoid some evil, for instance the scandal or disturbance that might result, or the hindrance to the salvation of those who, were they unmolested, might gradually be converted to the faith.

It is much graver to corrupt the faith, whereby the soul lives, than to forge money, which supports temporal life.

The general intellectual inferiority of women does not make them defective or inferior simply speaking, but only in the particular natural order, in comparison to most males and to beings with a more perfect nature—namely, the angels.

Without imperfection there would be no diversity, and without diversity the universe would not represent God in the best possible way.

When in 1 Corinthians 11:3 St. Paul says that 'man is the head of woman,' and in Ephesians 5:22 that 'a husband is the head of his wife,' Aquinas takes it as evident that if men are meant to rule, it can only be by virtue of intellectual superiority.

The male semen intends to produce a complete human being, a man, but at times it does not succeed and produces a woman. A woman is, therefore, a mas occasionatus, a failed male.

The state, therefore, which is bound to safeguard the complete well-being of its citizens, would be justified in putting such a man [a heretic] to death, removing him permanently from among men to whom he can do so much damage.

The constancy of the faithful being put to the test, and 'makes us shake off our sluggishness, and search the Scriptures more carefully,' as Augustine states (De Gen. cont. Manich. i, 1). What they [heretics] really intend is the corruption of the faith, which is to inflict very great harm indeed.

For a woman is an imperfect man.

It is not lawful for a woman to hold public office, because she is not perfect enough to be able to direct others.

It is natural for the male to be stronger and more intelligent than the female.

The good of the intellect is truth; the good of the will is the good.

It is better to illuminate than merely to shine, to deliver to others contemplated truths than merely to contemplate.

Man has free choice, or otherwise counsels, exhortations, commands, prohibitions, rewards and punishments would be in vain.

To convert the Jews, it is not enough to argue with them; they must be forced by fear to abandon their error.

The killing of evildoers is not contrary to divine justice, but is in accord with it.

Heretics can not only be excommunicated, but also justly killed.