Thomas Aquinas
The third way is taken from possibility and necessity … if everything is possible not to be, then at one time there could have been nothing in existence … Therefore we cannot but postulate the existence of some being having of itself its own necessity, and not receiving it from another, but rather causing in others their necessity. This all men speak of as God.
Source details
1268 · Summa Theologica I, q. 2, a. 3 — the Third Way (from possibility and necessity)
Checked word-for-word against Summa Theologica · 2026-07-18