True happiness is found in unselfish Love, A love which increases in proportion as it is shared. — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance, order, rhythm and harmony. — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
You are certainly one of the joys of life for all who have ever come within a mile of you. — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance and order and rhythm and harmony. — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
Our happiness consists in sharing the happiness of God, the perfection of His unlimited freedom, the perfection of His love. — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
Finally I am coming to the conclusion that my highest ambition is to be what I already I am. — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
Love, in fact, is the spiritual life; and without it, all other exercises of the spirit are emptied of content. — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
There is only one problem on which all my existence, my peace, my happiness depend: to discover myself in discovering God. If… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
A happiness that is sought for ourselves alone can never be found: for a happiness that is diminished by being shared is… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
Love in fact is the spiritual life, and without it all the other exercises of the spirit, however lofty, are emptied of… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
“Therefore there is only one problem on which all my existence, my peace and my happiness depend: to discover myself in discovering… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
“Happiness consists in finding out precisely what the "one thing necessary" may be, in our lives, and in gladly relinquishing all the… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
Even the darkest moments of the liturgy are filled with joy, and Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the lenten fast, is a… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
Cupidity...takes created things for ends in themselves, which they are not. The will that seeks rest in creatures for their own sake… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
True happiness is not found in any other reward than that of being united with God. If I seek some other reward… — 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
“Leaving Things Alone (excerpt) Too much pleasure? Yang has too much influence. Too much suffering? Yin has too much influence. When one… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
The married man and the mother of a Christian family, if they are faithful to their obligations, will fulfill a mission that… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
O God, teach me to be satisfied with my own helplessness in the spiritual life. Teach me to be content with Your… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
“We are what we love. If we love God, in whose image we were created, we discover ourselves in him and we… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
“The earthly desires men cherish are shadows. There is no true happiness in fulfilling them. Why, then, do we continue to pursue… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
All men who live only according to their five senses, and seek nothing beyond the gratification of their natural appetites for pleasure… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
“Perfect Joy (excerpts) Is there to be found on earth a fullness of joy, or is there no such thing? . .… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
“Because there is happiness only where there is coordination with the Truth, the Reality, the Act that underlies and directs all things… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
“One who is content with what he has, and who accepts the fact that he inevitably misses very much in life, is… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
Thinking about monastic ideals is not the same as living up to them, but at any rate such thinking has an important… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
Ultimately faith is the only key to the universe. The final meaning of human existence, and the answers to the questions on… — 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
