Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations. 1989.
NUMBER:
1909
AUTHOR:
Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225–74)
QUOTATION:
In order for a war to be just, three things are necessary. First, the authority of the sovereign…. Secondly, a just cause…. Thirdly … a rightful intention.
ATTRIBUTION:
ST. THOMAS AQUINAS, Summa Theologica, part II–II, question 40, article 1, pp. 1359–60 (1947). Written 1266–1273.
The three conditions are sometimes paraphrased as: public authority, just cause, right motive.
