God is the end, agent and exemplar of creation, and the source of the activity called freedom.
E. Britt 1971 on Thomas Aquinas’ theology


Man's freedom, far from being destroyed by his relationship to God, finds its foundation in this very relationship. "To take something away from the perfection of the creature is to abstract from the perfection of the creative power itself." This metaphysical axiom, which is also a mystical principle, is the key to St. Thomas’ spirituality.
M.-D.Ch.
E.Britt 1992.vol.28."Thomas Aquinas ".636-39.p.638.


It should be said that man’s will is discordant with the will of God
insofar as man wills something God does not want it to will,
as when it wills to sin;
though God does not want the will to will this,
if it so wills God brings it about, for whatever it wills, the Lord does.
And though in this way man’s will is discordant with the will of God with respect to the movement of will,
it can never be discordant with respect to result or event,
for a man’s will always chooses that event because God always fulfills his will concerning man. But with respect to the manner of willing it is not necessary that man's will be conformed to God's,
because God will whatever He wills eternally and infinitely, but man does not.


St. Thomas Aquinas, Disputed Questions of Evil,6.
From Aquinas: Selected Writings. trans. Ralph McInerny.p.247.

Quoted in Porcupines; A Philosophical Anthology by Graham Higgin.London:Penguin,1999.66.