Thomas Merton Quotes about Soul

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Every moment and every event of every man's life on earth plants something in his soul.

Every moment and every event of every man's life on earth plants something in his soul.

Thomas Merton

Uplifting, Men, Soul

Mahatma Gandhi, Thomas Merton (2007). “Gandhi on Non-Violence”, p.106, New Directions Publishing

And it is in this darkness, when there is nothing left in us that can please or comfort our own minds, when we seem to be useless and worthy of all contempt, when we seem to have failed, when we seem to be destroyed and devoured, it is then that the deep and secret selfishness that is too close to us for us to identify is stripped away from our souls. It is in this darkness that we find liberty. It is in this abandonment that we are made strong. This is the night which empties us and makes us pure.

Thomas Merton

Strong, Night, Soul

Music and art and poetry attune the soul to God.

Thomas Merton

Art, Artist, Soul

Thomas Merton (2005). “No Man is an Island”, p.36, Shambhala Publications

Souls are like athletes, that need opponents worthy of them, if they are to be tried and extended and pushed to the full use of their powers, and rewarded according to their capacity.

Thomas Merton

Wisdom, Athlete, Soul

Thomas Merton (1998). “The Seven Storey Mountain”, p.117, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

The psychological impotence of our enraged generation must be traced to the overwhelming accusation of insincerity which every man and woman has to confront, in the depths of his own soul, when he seeks to love merely for his own pleasure.And yet the men of our time do not love with enough courage to risk even discomfort or inconvenience.

Thomas Merton

Men, Soul, Risk

Contradictions have always existed in the soul of [individuals]. But it is only when we prefer analysis to silence that they become a constant and insoluble problem. We are not meant to resolve all contradictions but to live with them and rise above them and see them in the light of exterior and objective values which make them trivial by comparison.

Thomas Merton

Light, Silence, Soul

"Thoughts in Solitude". Book by Thomas Merton, 1956.

I shall lead you through the loneliness, the solitude you will not understand; but it is my shortcut to your soul.

Thomas Merton

Loneliness, Soul, Solitude

There is not true intimacy between souls who do not know how to respect one another's solitude.

Thomas Merton

Soul, Solitude, Intimacy

Thomas Merton (2005). “No Man is an Island”, p.175, Shambhala Publications

To become attached to the experience of peace is to threaten the true and essential and vital union of our soul with God above sense and experience in the darkness of a pure and perfect love.

Thomas Merton

Perfect, Soul, Darkness

Thomas Merton (2003). “New Seeds of Contemplation”, p.214, Shambhala Publications