Who really said it
Reported words of Aquinas after he stopped writing; the displayed English is a modern translation.
Last verified 9 Nov 2026 · how we verify · spot an error?
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Unconfirmed quote & credit
“All that I have written seems like straw compared to what has now been revealed to me” — Attributed to Thomas Aquinas in biographical testimony; modern English cited to Kenelm Foster (1959)
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Still under copyright (rights held by Kenelm Foster and/or the publisher or estate). A short, credited quote is generally fine for talks, teaching, and internal decks; for commercial, published, or large-scale reuse, get permission.
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In context
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Provenance
All that I have written seems like straw compared to what has now been revealed to me.
Read the attribution evidenceHow we verified this
The identified twentieth-century work remains in copyright; only a short excerpt is used for identification and criticism.
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Context
The reported declaration explains why Aquinas stopped writing near the end of his life, leaving his theological project unfinished. The English words used here come through a modern translation of biographical testimony, not an English sentence written by Aquinas.
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Wikiquote supplies the Foster attribution, Latin report and variant translations.
Brian Kelly quotes the key clause, cites Foster p.110, and relates it to the unfinished Summa.
Philosophical and biographical background for Aquinas and his works.
Archive metadata identifies Fontes vitae S. Thomae; the testimony page image was not independently read.
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The author
For writers & researchers
Kenelm Foster, The Life of Saint Thomas Aquinas: Biographical Documents; reported speech (1959).
Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘All that I have written seems like straw compared to what has now been revealed to me’?” Last verified 9 Nov 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/all-that-i-have-written-seems-like-straw-compared-to-what/