One opens the inner doors of one's heart to the infinite silences of the Spirit, out of whose abysses love wells up… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
In a world of noise, confusion and conflict it is necessary that there be places of silence, inner discipline and peace. In… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
But there is greater comfort in the substance of silence than in the answer to a question. — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
One might say I have decided to marry the silence of the forest. The sweet dark warmth of the whole world will… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
Music is pleasing not only because of the sound but because of the silence that is in it: without the alternation of… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
If we have not silence, God is not heard in our music. If we have no rest God, does not bless our… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
“Possibly, what is required of some of us, and chiefly of me, is a solitary and personal response in the form of… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
May we all grow in grace and peace and not neglect the silence that is printed in the center of our being.… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
To be alone by being part of the universe-fitting in completely to an environment of woods and silence and peace. Everything you… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
When I am liberated by silence, when I am no longer involved in the measurement of life, but in the living of… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
“Those who love their own noise are impatient of everything else. They constantly defile the silence of the forests and the mountains… — thomas merton Copy Share Image
Let me rest in Your will and be silent. Then the light of Your joy will warm my life. Its fire will… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
Not only does silence give us a chance to understand ourselves better, to get a truer and more balanced perspective on our… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
“I should be able to return to solitude each time as to the place I have never described to anybody, as the… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
We thank Him less by words than by the serene happiness of silent acceptance. It is our emptiness in the presence of… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
I suppose what makes me most glad is that we all recognize each other in this metaphysical space of silence and happening,… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
For language to have meaning, there must be intervals of silence somewhere, to divide word from word and utterance from utterance. He… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
Contradictions have always existed in the soul of [individuals]. But it is only when we prefer analysis to silence that they become… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
“Leaving Things Alone (excerpt) The wise man, then, when he must govern, knows how to do nothing. Letting things alone, he rests… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
There is in all visible things an invisible fecundity, a dimmed light, a meek namelessness, a hidden wholeness. This mysterious unity and… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
My own personal task is not simply that of poet and writer (still less commentator, pseudo-prophet); it is basically to praise God… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
Words stand between silence and silence: between the silence of things and the silence of our own being. Between the silence of… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
The silence of the spheres is the music of a wedding feast. The more we persist in misunderstanding the phenomena of life,… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
Silence has many dimensions. It can be a regression and an escape, a loss of self, or it can be presence, awareness,… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
It is in deep solitude and silence that I find the gentleness with which I can truly love my brother and sister. — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
Solitude and silence teach me to love my brothers for what they are, not for what they say. — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
The silence of the forest is my bride and the sweet dark warmth of the whole world is my love, and out… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
“He is heard only when we hope to hear Him, and if, thinking our hope to be fulfilled, we cease to speak,… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
It is in deep solitude that I find the gentleness with which I can truly love my brothers. The more solitary I… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
Are they moved by a sense of human need for silence, for reflection, for inner seeking? So they want to get away… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
When your tongue is silent, you can rest in the silence of the forest. When your imagination is silent, the forest speaks… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
“For language to have meaning there must be intervals of silence somewhere, to divide word from word and utterance from utterance. He… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
If there is no silence beyond and within the many words of doctrine, there is no religion, only a religious ideology. For… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
“It is not speaking that breaks our silence, but the anxiety to be heard. The words of the proud man impose silence… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
Not all of us are called to be hermits, but all of us need enough silence and solitude in our lives to… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
Pardon all runners, All speechless, alien winds, All mad waters. Pardon their impulses, Their wild attitudes, Their young flights, their reticence. When… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
The world of men has forgotten the joys of silence, the peace of solitude, which is necessary, to some extent, for the… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
“Let no one hope to find in contemplation an escape from conflict, from anguish or from doubt. On the contrary, the deep, inexpressible certitude… — Thomas Merton Copy Share
If nothing that can be seen can either be God or represent Him to us as He is, then to find God we must… — Thomas Merton Copy Share
It is almost impossible to overestimate the value of true humility and its power in the spiritual life. For the beginning of humility is… — Thomas Merton Copy Share
We are not perfectly free until we live in pure hope. For when our hope is pure, it no longer trusts exclusively in human… — Thomas Merton Copy Share
The desire to kill is like the desire to attack another with an ingot of red -hot iron: I have to pick up the… — Thomas Merton Copy Share
To enter into the realm of contemplation one must in a certain sense die: but this death is in fact the entrance to a… — Thomas Merton Copy Share
The mission of Christian humility in social life is not merely to edify, but to keep minds open to many alternatives. The rigidity of… — Thomas Merton Copy Share
Peace cannot be built on exclusivism, absolutism, and intolerance. But neither can it be built on vague liberal slogans and pious programs gestated in… — Thomas Merton Copy Share
Things that are good are good, and if one is responding to that goodness one is in contact with a truth from which one… — Thomas Merton Copy Share
The logic of worldly success rests on a fallacy: the strange error that our perfection depends on the thoughts and opinions and applause of… — Thomas Merton Copy Share
“The wisdom of the flesh is a judgement that the ordinary ends of our natural appetites are the goods to which the whole of… — Thomas Merton Copy Share
I will no longer wound myself with the thoughts and questions that have surrounded me like thorns: that is a penance You do not… — Thomas Merton Copy Share
If you write for God you will reach many men and bring them joy. If you write for men--you may make some money and… — Thomas Merton Copy Share
“Contemplation means rest, suspension of activity, withdrawal into the mysterious interior solitude in which the soul is absorbed in the immense and fruitful silence… — Thomas Merton Copy Share
![“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…” quote by Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/ee9/thomas-merton-231_analysis_contradictions-have-always-existed-in-th_1336538.jpg)
