Thomas Aquinas on Tyranny
← Back to Thomas Aquinas Profile
“One who liberates his country by killing a tyrant is to be praised and rewarded.”
“When government is unjustly exercised by one man who seeks personal profit from his position instead of the good of the community subject to him, such a ruler is called a tyrant.”
“When what is ordered by an authority is opposed to the object for which that authority was constituted, ... one is obliged to disobey it, as did the holy martyrs who suffered death rather than obey the impious commands of tyrants.”