The idea is half his. In the Summa Theologiae (I-II, q. 38, a. 5) Aquinas argues that sleep and baths ease sorrow, but he never mentions wine and never uses this sentence. The “glass of wine” is a later addition that circulates without any citation.
“Sorrow can be alleviated by good sleep, a bath and a glass of good wine” popularly attributed to Thomas Aquinas, but not his wording. His Summa Theologiae (I-II, q. 38, a. 5) names sleep and baths as remedies for sorrow, with no wine. (Quotle.info)
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Provenance
What Aquinas actually wrote
Work
Summa Theologiae, I-II, Question 38, Article 5
Article
“Whether pain and sorrow are assuaged by sleep and baths?”
Translation
Fathers of the English Dominican Province, Second and Revised Edition, 1920 (New Advent online edition)
Popular wording
Not found in the article; the passage contains no wine
On the contrary, Augustine says (Confess. ix, 12): “I had heard that the bath had its name [Balneum, from the Greek balaneion] . . . from the fact of its driving sadness from the mind.” And further on, he says: “I slept, and woke up again, and found my grief not a little assuaged” … I answer that, As stated above (I-II:37:4), sorrow, by reason of its specific nature, is repugnant to the vital movement of the body; and consequently whatever restores the bodily nature to its due state of vital movement, is opposed to sorrow and assuages it.
Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 38, a. 5
This is the genuine passage behind the popular quote. It names sleep and baths, backed by Augustine’s Confessions and a hymn of Ambrose. Wine appears nowhere in the article or anywhere else on the page for Question 38.
The primary text: Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 38, a. 5 ↗ says sorrow is “assuaged by sleep and baths”. The word “wine” does not appear on the page.
Wikiquote does not list the line on its main Thomas Aquinas page ↗. It is kept on the Talk page ↗ under “Unsourced”, as “Sorrow can be alleviated by good sleep, a bath and a glass of wine.”
Aleteia’s Daniel Esparza (26 January 2022) checked the Summa and concluded “that is not what Aquinas said” ↗: “sleep and baths are indeed recommended, wine is not featured on the list.”
The line circulates with only a name attached. For example, Catholic Insight (8 August 2019) ↗ posted it as “Saint Thomas Aquinas, Dominican priest, +1274” and cited no work.
The popular wording, with or without “good wine”, has no identifiable author or first publication, so we assert no copyright status for it. The genuine passage quoted above is from the English Dominican translation, which New Advent credits to its Second and Revised Edition of 1920.
Rights status is our research, not legal advice — and copyright varies by country and edition. For commercial or published use, confirm with the rightsholder. See terms.
Fact-check
How a medieval remedy picked up a glass of wine
This line pairs something Aquinas really wrote with something he did not. That is why it survives: anyone who checks finds sleep and baths in the Summa and may assume the wine is there too.
~
The ideaThomas Aquinas Genuine
In Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 38, a. 5 ↗ he argues that whatever restores the body’s “due state of vital movement”, such as sleep and baths, “is opposed to sorrow and assuages it.”
✕
The wineUnknown later embellisher Added
Wine is not in the article. Aleteia (2022) ↗ says “wine is not featured on the list.”
✕
The sentenceQuote sites and social posts Unsourced
Wikiquote’s editors list it on the Talk:Thomas Aquinas page ↗ under “Unsourced”, not among his sourced quotations. The “glass of good wine” form is a further variant of the “glass of wine” wording they record.
✓Aquinas prescribed sleep and baths for sorrow, but the wine and this sentence are not his. Read the real article in Summa Theologiae I-II, q. 38 ↗.
Context
Why the real version is still worth quoting
Question 38 of the Prima Secundae is Aquinas’s short guide to the “remedies of sorrow or pain”. In five articles he names pleasure, tears, the sympathy of friends, the contemplation of truth, and finally sleep and baths. His reasoning in the last article is physical: sorrow works against the body’s vital movement, so anything that restores the body to its normal state is a pleasure, and every pleasure eases sorrow.
He supports the point with Augustine, who wrote after his mother’s death that he “slept, and woke up again, and found my grief not a little assuaged.” The modern version keeps the comfort of that advice and adds a glass of wine that Aquinas never prescribed.
Whatever restores the bodily nature to its due state of vital movement, is opposed to sorrow and assuages it.
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Filed under
More provenance-checked quotes on the same theme, each with its reuse status.
c. 1225 – 7 March 1274 · Dominican friar, theologian & philosopher
Thomas Aquinas was an Italian Dominican friar and the most influential theologian of medieval scholasticism. His unfinished Summa Theologiae includes a detailed treatment of the passions, including a question on the “remedies of sorrow or pain”: pleasure, tears, the sympathy of friends, the contemplation of truth, and sleep and baths.
For writers & researchers
Cite this
Genuine source of the idea
Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, I-II, q. 38, a. 5, “Whether pain and sorrow are assuaged by sleep and baths?”, trans. Fathers of the English Dominican Province, 2nd rev. ed. (1920), New Advent online edition, https://www.newadvent.org/summa/2038.htm. The popular wording, with wine, does not appear there.
This verification page
Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘Sorrow can be alleviated by good sleep, a bath and a glass of good wine’?” Last verified 3 Nov 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/sorrow-can-be-alleviated-by-good-sleep-a-bath-and-a-glass/