Authors:

A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z

Thomas Merton Quotes - Page 2

All Quotes Acceptance Acting Age Ambition Anxiety Art Attitude Awakening Awareness Being Alone Being Single Being Yourself Belief Charity Children Choices Christ Christianity Church College Communication Compassion Consciousness Contemplation Country Courage Creation Darkness Desire Destiny Devil Discipline Doubt Earth Effort Eternity Evil Exercise Failing Faith Freedom Giving Glory God Grace Gratitude Happiness Hate Hatred Heart Heaven Hell Home Humanity Humility Identity Imagination Individuality Inspiration Inspirational Integrity Intuition Jesus Journey Joy Justice Language Liberty Life Logic Loneliness Love Lying Meditation Mercy Mindfulness Moon Overcoming Passion Peace Perfection Poverty Praise Prayer Pride Purpose Rain Reality Reflection Responsibility Risk Sacrifice Silence Simplicity Sin Solitude Sorrow Soul Spirituality Spring Study Suffering Teaching Temptation Today Truth Unconditional Love Understanding Unity Values Violence Vision Waiting War Wisdom Work Out Worry Worship Writing

The spiritual life is first of all a life. It is not merely something to be known and studied, it is to be lived.

The spiritual life is first of all a life. It is not merely something to be known and studied, it is to be lived.

Spiritual, Firsts, Life Is

Thomas Merton (2011). “Thoughts In Solitude”, p.52, Macmillan

Before we can realize who we really are, we must become conscious of the fact that the person we think we are, here and now, is at best an impostor and a stranger.

Thinking, Awakening, Facts

"The New Man".

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me...you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore I will trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

Shadow Of Death, Ideas, May

How can I be sincere if I am constantly changing my mind to conform with the shadow of what I think others expect of me?

Thinking, Mind, Shadow

Thomas Merton (2005). “No Man is an Island”, p.206, Shambhala Publications

A life is either all spiritual or not spiritual at all. No man can serve two masters. Your life is shaped by the end you live for. You are made in the image of what you desire.

Life, God, Spiritual

Thomas Merton (2011). “Thoughts In Solitude”, p.64, Macmillan

‎"Our job is to love others without stopping to inquire whether or not they are worthy.

Jobs, Stopping, Worthy

Thomas Merton (1976). “Disputed Questions”, p.143, Macmillan

Actions are the doors and windows of being. Unless we act, we have no way of knowing what we are.

Doors, Knowing, Way

Thomas Merton (2011). “Thoughts In Solitude”, p.136, Macmillan

We are living in a world that is absolutely transparent and God is shining through it all the time. God manifests Himself everywhere, in everything - in people and in things and in nature and in events ... The only thing is we don't see it ... I have no program for this seeing. It is only given. But the gate of heaven is everywhere.

People, Shining, Heaven

We are not converted only once in our lives but many times and this endless series of conversions and inner revolutions leads to our transformation.

Revolution, Transformation, Endless

You are made in the image of what you desire.

Desire, Spiritual Awakening, Made

Thomas Merton (2011). “Thoughts In Solitude”, p.64, Macmillan

If you yourself are at peace, then there is at least some peace in the world.

Peace, World, Ifs

The sky is my prayer, the birds are my prayer, the wind in the trees is my prayer, for God is all in all.

Prayer, Wind, Sky

Thomas Merton (2011). “Thoughts In Solitude”, p.107, Macmillan

We are so obsessed with doing that we have no time and no imagination left for being. As a result, men are valued not for what they are but for what they do or what they have - for their usefulness.

Inspirational, Courage, Men

Thomas Merton (2009). “Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander”, p.312, Image

Gratitude takes nothing for granted, is never unresponsive, is constantly awakening to new wonder.

Thank You, Gratitude, Awakening

Thomas Merton (2011). “Thoughts In Solitude”, p.48, Macmillan

I see no contradiction between Buddhism and Christianity ... I intend to become as good a Buddhist as I can.

Buddhist, Buddhism, Christianity

We have what we seek, it is there all the time, and if we give it time, it will make itself known to us.

Giving, Ifs, Known

John Howard Griffin, Thomas Merton (1970). “A hidden wholeness: the visual world of Thomas Merton”, Mariner Books

Our idea of God tells us more about ourselves than about Him.

Wisdom, Ideas

Thomas Merton (2007). “New Seeds of Contemplation”, p.15, New Directions Publishing

When we are alone on a starlit night, when by chance we see the migrating birds in autumn descending on a grove of junipers to rest and eat; when we see children in a moment when they are really children, when we know love in our own hearts; or when, like the Japanese poet, Basho, we hear an old frog land in a quiet pond with a solitary splash - at such times the awakening, the turning inside out of all values, the "newness," the emptiness and the purity of vision that make themselves evident, all these provide a glimpse of the cosmic dance.

Life, Children, Heart

The deepest level of communication is not communication, but communion. It is wordless. It is beyond words, and it is beyond speech, and it is beyond concept. Not that we discover a new unity. We discover an older unity. My dear Brothers [and Sisters], we are already one. But we imagine that we are not. And what we have to recover is our original unity. What we have to be is what we are.

Brother, Communication, Unity

Thomas Merton (2011). “The Hidden Ground of Love: Letters”, p.13, Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Everything in modern city life is calculated to keep man from entering into himself and thinking about spiritual things. Even with the best of intentions a spiritual man finds himself exhausted and deadened and debased by the constant noise of machines and loudspeakers, the dead air and the glaring lights of offices and shops, the everlasting suggestion of advertising and propaganda. The whole mechanism of modern life is geared for a flight from God and from the spirit into the wilderness of neurosis.

Spiritual, Men, Thinking

Love is our true destiny. We do not find the meaning of life by ourselves alone - we find it with another.

Love, Valentines Day, Fate

Thomas Merton (1979). “Love and Living”, p.32, Macmillan

Life is this simple: we are living in a world that is absolutely transparent and the divine is shining through it all the time. This is not just a nice story or a fable, it is true.

Nice, Simple, Meditation

Learn how to meditate on paper. Drawing and writing are forms of meditation. Learn how to contemplate works of art. Learn how to pray in the streets or in the country. Know how to meditate not only when you have a book in your hand but when you are waiting for a bus or riding in a train.

Life, Country, Art

Thomas Merton (2007). “New Seeds of Contemplation”, New Directions Publishing

Pride makes us artificial and humility makes us real.

Inspirational, Wisdom, Fake People

Thomas Merton (2005). “No Man is an Island”, p.119, Shambhala Publications

Instead of hating the people you think are war-makers, hate the appetites and disorder in your own soul, which are the causes of war. If you love peace, then hate injustice, hate tyranny, hate greed - but hate these things in yourself, not in another.

Peace, Hate, War

You May Also Like: