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Faith Quotes by Thomas Merton

37 Faith quotes by Thomas Merton

All Faith quotes Thomas Merton’s page

Thomas Merton writes that true faith is humble and often demands sacrifice. He notes that doubt can grow alongside certainty, not destroy faith. He also says love and mercy are the strongest powers on earth. He warns against quick judgment of those who lose belief, reminding us of our own coldness.

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A faith that is afraid of other people is not faith at all.

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We do not exist for ourselves.

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A faith that is afraid of other people is no faith at all.

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The biggest disease in North America is busyness.

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You cannot be a man of faith unless you know how to doubt.

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“If you find God with great ease, perhaps it is not God you have found.”

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“The whole of life is to spiritualize our activities by humility and faith, to silence our nature by charity.”

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

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Be human in this most inhuman of ages; guard the image of man for it is the image of God.

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Reason is in fact the path to faith, and faith takes over when reason can say no more.

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The man of faith who has never experienced doubt is not a man of faith.

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“For it seems to me that the first responsibility of a man of faith is to make his faith really part of…

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It is my belief, that we should not be too sure of having found Christ in ourselves until we have found him…

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The fact remains that we are invited to forget ourselves on purpose, cast our awful solemnity to the wind, and join in…

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“I could recognize that those who thought about God had a good way of considering Him, and that those who believed in…

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You do not need to know precisely what is happening, or exactly where it is all going. What you need is to…

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Our happiness consists in sharing the happiness of God, the perfection of His unlimited freedom, the perfection of His love.

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“... it may express the solitary's conviction that he is not good enough for most of the visible exercises of the community,…

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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…

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For every gain in deep certitude there is a corresponding growth of superficial "doubt." This doubt is by no means opposed to…

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Faith is a light of such supreme brilliance that it dazzles the mind and darkens all its visions of other realities, but…

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One thing is certain: the humility of faith, if it is followed by the proper consequences-by the acceptance of the work and…

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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…

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Faith is the door to the full inner life of the Church, a life which includes not only access to an authoritative…

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“The ever-changing reality in the midst of which we live should awaken us to the possibility of an uninterrupted dialogue with God.…

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God must be allowed the right to speak unpredictably… We must find him in our enemy, or we may lose him even…

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My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot…

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“This false “faith” which is what we often live by and which we even come to confuse with our “religion” is subjected…

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“Let no one hope to find in contemplation an escape from conflict, from anguish or from doubt. On the contrary, the deep,…

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“Whether you teach or live in the cloister or nurse the sick, whether you are in religion or out of it, married…

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We too often forget that faith is a matter of questioning and struggle before it becomes one of certitude and peace. You…

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“and burdens of mature life, when they became aware of their own weakness, they lost their peace, they let go of their…

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To be grateful is to recognize the Love of God in everything He has given us - and He has given us…

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“When Life was Full In the age when life on earth was full, no one paid any special attention to worthy men,…

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Place no hope in the feeling of assurance, in spiritual comfort. You may well have to get along without this. Place no…

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Ultimately faith is the only key to the universe. The final meaning of human existence, and the answers to the questions on…

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Do not be too quick to condemn the man who no longer believes in God: for it is perhaps your own coldness…

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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…

If nothing that can be seen can either be God or represent Him to us as He is, then to find God we must…

It is almost impossible to overestimate the value of true humility and its power in the spiritual life. For the beginning of humility is…

We are not perfectly free until we live in pure hope. For when our hope is pure, it no longer trusts exclusively in human…

The desire to kill is like the desire to attack another with an ingot of red -hot iron: I have to pick up the…

To enter into the realm of contemplation one must in a certain sense die: but this death is in fact the entrance to a…

The mission of Christian humility in social life is not merely to edify, but to keep minds open to many alternatives. The rigidity of…

Peace cannot be built on exclusivism, absolutism, and intolerance. But neither can it be built on vague liberal slogans and pious programs gestated in…

Things that are good are good, and if one is responding to that goodness one is in contact with a truth from which one…

Love winter when the plant says nothing.

The logic of worldly success rests on a fallacy: the strange error that our perfection depends on the thoughts and opinions and applause of…

“The wisdom of the flesh is a judgement that the ordinary ends of our natural appetites are the goods to which the whole of…

I will no longer wound myself with the thoughts and questions that have surrounded me like thorns: that is a penance You do not…

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…

“Contemplation means rest, suspension of activity, withdrawal into the mysterious interior solitude in which the soul is absorbed in the immense and fruitful silence…