The sentiment is genuinely Aquinas’s. In De Regno (On Kingship), c. 1267, Book I, ch. 11 he writes that “among all worldly things there is nothing which seems worthy to be preferred to friendship” (Phelan & Eschmann translation, 1949). But the popular one-liner — with “prized,” “on this earth” and “true friendship” — matches no standard translation; it is a loose modern rewording that quote sites circulate with no source.
“There is nothing on this earth more to be prized than true friendship” Adapted from Thomas Aquinas, De Regno (On Kingship), Book I, ch. 11, c. 1267 — the popular wording "There is nothing on this earth more to be prized than true friendship" is a loose modern paraphrase, not his exact words.
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? We couldn’t verify where this wording comes from, so there’s no rights status to give. Safe to present as an unverified or anonymous line — just don’t assert a specific author or source.
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In context
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Provenance
Where the idea really comes from
Work
De Regno ad regem Cypri (On Kingship)
Passage
Book I, chapter 11 (para. 77)
Written
c. 1267 (unfinished)
Translation
G. B. Phelan, rev. I. Th. Eschmann, O.P., 1949
Among all worldly things there is nothing which seems worthy to be preferred to friendship. Friendship unites good men and preserves and promotes virtue.
The popular one-liner
Phelan & Eschmann translation (1949). The Latin original reads: “Primo namque inter mundana omnia nihil est, quod amicitiae dignae praeferendum videatur” — literally, “first, among all worldly things nothing seems worthy to be preferred to worthy friendship.” Note “preferred,” not “prized,” and “worthy” friendship, loosely rendered “true” in the popular version.
The line is genuinely Aquinas’s: it sits in De Regno I.11, where the scholarly translation reads “among all worldly things there is nothing which seems worthy to be preferred to friendship.”
The authoritative Latin at Corpus Thomisticum confirms the passage: “Primo namque inter mundana omnia nihil est, quod amicitiae dignae praeferendum videatur.”
A Patheos discussion ties the popular quote to this same De Regno passage while noting it is “a slightly different translation.”
Quote sites such as Good News Network print the polished sentence with no work, translator or edition cited.
The displayed sentence is an anonymous modern paraphrase with no identifiable translator and no evidence of pre-1931 publication, so we assert no copyright status for it. The underlying 13th-century Latin is public domain, but the standard scholarly English (Phelan & Eschmann, 1949) is a separate, in-copyright translation — and it is not the wording shown here.
Fact-check
Right author, rewritten words
This is not a case of the wrong person — the idea really is Aquinas’s. It is a case of a genuine passage being smoothed into a catchier sentence that he never actually wrote.
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The exact wordingAnonymous modern quote-book editors paraphrase
No published translation of De Regno reads “There is nothing on this earth more to be prized than true friendship.” The scholarly text says friendship is “worthy to be preferred” among “worldly things” — “prized,” “on this earth” and “true” are later editorial polish.
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The source often namedAttributed loosely to the Summa wrong work
Many reposts vaguely credit Aquinas without a work, and some assume the Summa Theologiae. The passage is actually from De Regno (On Kingship), Book I, ch. 11, a separate treatise.
✓Aquinas did rank friendship above every worldly good in De Regno I.11 — but the neat sentence attributed to him is a modern rewording, not his own line.
Context
Why it mattered
Aquinas makes the remark inside an argument about government, not a greeting-card sentiment. In De Regno he contends that a just king wins the genuine friendship of his subjects — the most valuable of worldly goods — while a tyrant, pursuing private gain, forfeits it. Friendship here is a political and moral bond, illustrated by the classical example of Damon and Pythias.
For Aquinas friendship (amicitia) was no minor theme: he modelled charity itself — the love of God and neighbour — on the structure of friendship, making the concept central to his ethics and theology.
Among all worldly things there is nothing which seems worthy to be preferred to friendship.
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More provenance-checked quotes on the same theme, each with its reuse status.
c. 1225–1274 · Italian Dominican friar, philosopher & theologian
Thomas Aquinas was a 13th-century Italian Dominican friar whose synthesis of Aristotelian philosophy and Christian theology — above all the Summa Theologiae — became foundational to Catholic thought. He treated friendship (amicitia) as a central ethical category and modelled charity itself on friendship. The line about friendship comes not from the Summa but from De Regno, a short treatise on kingship addressed to the King of Cyprus around 1267.
For writers & researchers
Cite this
De Regno I.11
Thomas Aquinas, On Kingship, to the King of Cyprus (De Regno ad regem Cypri), Book I, ch. 11, trans. Gerald B. Phelan, rev. I. Th. Eschmann, O.P. (Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 1949). Latin: Corpus Thomisticum, De regno ad regem Cypri.
This verification page
Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘There is nothing on this earth more to be prized than true friendship’?” Last verified 8 Jul 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/there-is-nothing-on-this-earth-more-to-be-prized-than-true