Compassion Quotes by Thomas Merton

24 Compassion quotes by Thomas Merton

All Compassion quotes Thomas Merton’s page

Merton’s contemplative style shines through as he links inner silence with outward kindness. Across twenty‑four lines, you’ll find a thoughtful balance of spiritual depth and a call to care for the world around us.

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God, have mercy on me in the blindness in which I hope I am seeking You!

Thomas Merton

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We have to have a deep, patient compassion for the fears of others and irrational mania of those who hate or condemn…

Thomas Merton

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A Christian is committed to the belief that Love and Mercy are the most powerful forces on earth.

Thomas Merton

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The very contradictions in my life are in some ways signs of God's mercy to me.

Thomas Merton

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We have to have a deep, patient compassion for the fears of men and irrational mania of those who hate or condemn…

Thomas Merton

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Compassion is the keen awareness of the interdependence of all things.

Thomas Merton

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The whole idea of compassion is based on a keen awareness of the other… The whole purpose of life is to live…

Thomas Merton

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The whole idea of compassion is based on a keen awareness of the interdependence of all these living beings, which are all…

Thomas Merton

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To desire Him to be merciful to us is to acknowledge Him as God. To seek His pity when we deserve no…

Thomas Merton

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Nevertheless, the liturgy of Ash Wednesday is not focussed on the sinfulness of the penitent but on the mercy of God. The…

Thomas Merton

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His justice is the love that gives to each one of His creatures the gifts that His mercy has previously decreed. And…

Thomas Merton

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“A man becomes a saint not by conviction that he is better than sinners but by the realization that he is one…

Thomas Merton

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God has left sin in the world in order that there may be forgiveness: not only the secret forgiveness by which He…

Thomas Merton

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Surrender your own poverty and acknowledge your nothingness to the Lord. Whether you understand it or not, God loves you, is present…

Thomas Merton

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“The eyes of the saint make all beauty holy and the hands of the saint consecrate everything they touch to the glory…

Thomas Merton

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“We must approach our meditation realizing that 'grace,' 'mercy,' and 'faith' are not permanent inalienable possessions which we gain by our efforts…

Thomas Merton

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But the man who is not afraid to admit everything that he sees to be wrong with himself, and yet recognizes that…

Thomas Merton

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Only the man who has had to face despair is really convinced that he needs mercy. Those who do not want mercy…

Thomas Merton

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“Those who refuse His mercy satisfy His justice in another way. Without His mercy, they cannot love Him. Without love for Him…

Thomas Merton

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“Do not desire chiefly to be cherished and consoled by God; desire above all to love Him. Do not anxiously desire to…

Thomas Merton

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“For whatever is demanded by truth, by justice, by mercy, or by love must surely be taken to be willed by God.…

Thomas Merton

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“My opinion is that it is a very extraordinary thing for anyone to be upset by such a topic. Why should anyone…

Thomas Merton

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“It is only the infinite mercy and love of God that has prevented us from tearing ourselves to pieces and destroying His…

Thomas Merton

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“It is therefore of supreme importance that we consent to live not for ourselves but for others. When we do this we…

Thomas Merton

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More by Thomas Merton

“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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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Love winter when the plant says nothing.

Thomas Merton

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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

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“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

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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

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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

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“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

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