---
title: "Best Life Sayings by Thomas Merton"
description: "146 Life quotes by Thomas Merton. Plus more from Thomas Merton and more Life sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3d3/thomas-merton-231_christian_it-is-in-the-ordinary-duties-and-labors_2324024.jpg"
---

> [It is in the ordinary duties and labors of life that the Christian can and should develop his spiritual union with God.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/it-is-in-the-ordinary-duties-and-labors-of-life-that-the-christian/)

[Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/)

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> [No matter how ruined man and his world may seem to be, and no matter how terrible man's despair may become, as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/no-matter-how-ruined-man-and-his-world-may-seem-to-be-and-no-matter/)

[Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/)

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> [We live on the brink of disaster because we do not know how to let life alone. We do not respect the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/we-live-on-the-brink-of-disaster-because-we-do-not-know-how-to-let/)

[Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/)

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> [There is only one problem on which all my existence, my peace, my happiness depend: to discover myself in discovering God. If…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/there-is-only-one-problem-on-which-all-my-existence-my-peace-my/)

[Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/)

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> [The man who lives in division is living in death. He cannot find himself because he is lost; he has ceased to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/the-man-who-lives-in-division-is-living-in-death-he-cannot-find/)

[Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/)

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> [A life is either all spiritual or not spiritual at all. No man can serve two masters. Your life is shaped by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/a-life-is-either-all-spiritual-or-not-spiritual-at-all-no-man-can/)

[Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/)

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> [Let me rest in Your will and be silent. Then the light of Your joy will warm my life. Its fire will…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/let-me-rest-in-your-will-and-be-silent-then-the-light-of-your-joy/)

[Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/)

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> [There is no greater disaster in the spiritual life than to be immersed in unreality, for life is maintained and nourished in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/there-is-no-greater-disaster-in-the-spiritual-life-than-to-be/)

[Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/)

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> [The simplicity that all this presupposes is not easy to attain. I find that my life constantly threatens to become complex and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/the-simplicity-that-all-this-presupposes-is-not-easy-to-attain-i-find/)

[Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/)

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> [The whole function of the life of prayer is, then, to enlighten and strengthen our conscience so that it not only knows…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/the-whole-function-of-the-life-of-prayer-is-then-to-enlighten-and/)

[Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d59/thomas-merton-231_concrete_the-whole-function-of-the-life-of-prayer_3123223.jpg)

> [The world of men has forgotten the joys of silence, the peace of solitude, which is necessary, to some extent, for the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/the-world-of-men-has-forgotten-the-joys-of-silence-the-peace-of/)

[Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1ec/thomas-merton-231_cease_the-world-of-men-has-forgotten-the-joys_1951859.jpg)

> [The whole purpose of spiritual direction is to penetrate beneath the surface of a man's life, to get behind the façade of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/the-whole-purpose-of-spiritual-direction-is-to-penetrate-beneath-the/)

[Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7ca/thomas-merton-231_attitude_the-whole-purpose-of-spiritual-direction_495436.jpg)

> [One of the most important-and most neglected-elements in the beginning of the interior life is the ability to respond to reality, to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/one-of-the-most-important-and-most-neglected-elements-in-the/)

[Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/)

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> [Persons are not known by intellect alone, not by principles alone, but only by love. It is when we love the other,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/persons-are-not-known-by-intellect-alone-not-by-principles-alone-but/)

[Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e1f/thomas-merton-231_action_persons-are-not-known-by-intellect-alone_134971.jpg)

> [To enter into the realm of contemplation one must in a certain sense die: but this death is in fact the entrance…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/to-enter-into-the-realm-of-contemplation-one-must-in-a-certain-sense/)

[Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/)

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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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/god-must-be-allowed-the-right-to-speak-unpredictably-we-must-find-him/)

[Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/)

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> [Once you have grace," I said to him, "you are free. Without it, you cannot help doing the things you know you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/once-you-have-grace-i-said-to-him-you-are-free-without-it-you-cannot/)

[Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/it-is-almost-impossible-to-overestimate-the-value-of-true-humility/)

[Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/49c/thomas-merton-231_answers_it-is-almost-impossible-to-overestimate_12021.jpg)

> [“There is something in the depths of our being that hungers for wholeness and finality. Because we are made for eternal life,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/there-is-something-in-the-depths-of-our-being-that-hungers-for/)

[Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ae5/thomas-merton-231_eternal-life_there-is-something-in-the-depths-of-our_1311198.jpg)

> [Paradoxically, I have found peace because I have always been dissatisfied. My moments of depression and despair turn out to be renewals,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/paradoxically-i-have-found-peace-because-i-have-always-been/)

[Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/)

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> [The rush and pressure of modern life are a form, perhaps the most common form, of contemporary violence. To allow oneself to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/the-rush-and-pressure-of-modern-life-are-a-form-perhaps-the-most/)

[Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/)

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> [“Nothing could be more alien to contemplation than the cogito ergo sum of Descartes. “I think, therefore I am.” This is the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/nothing-could-be-more-alien-to-contemplation-than-the-cogito-ergo-sum/)

[Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/)

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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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/whether-you-teach-or-live-in-the-cloister-or-nurse-the-sick-whether/)

[Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/)

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> [“Perfect Joy (excerpts) Is there to be found on earth a fullness of joy, or is there no such thing? . .…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/perfect-joy-excerpts-is-there-to-be-found-on-earth-a-fullness-of-joy/)

[Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/the-wisdom-of-the-flesh-is-a-judgement-that-the-ordinary-ends-of-our/)

[Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/)

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> [“Ultimately the only way that I can be myself is to become identified with Him in Whom is hidden the reason and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/ultimately-the-only-way-that-i-can-be-myself-is-to-become-identified/)

[Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/)

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> [No writing on the solitary, meditative dimensions of life can say anything that has not already been said better by the wind…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/no-writing-on-the-solitary-meditative-dimensions-of-life-can-say/)

[Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/)

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> [Why do we have to spend our lives striving to be something that we would never want to be, if we only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/why-do-we-have-to-spend-our-lives-striving-to-be-something-that-we/)

[Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/)

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> [The logic of the poet - that is, the logic of language or the experience itself - develops the way a living…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/the-logic-of-the-poet-that-is-the-logic-of-language-or-the-experience/)

[Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/)

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> [We do not want to be beginners. But let us be convinced of the fact that we will never be anything else…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/we-do-not-want-to-be-beginners-but-let-us-be-convinced-of-the-fact/)

[Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/)

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> [“Therefore there is only one problem on which all my existence, my peace and my happiness depend: to discover myself in discovering…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/therefore-there-is-only-one-problem-on-which-all-my-existence-my/)

[Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/000/thomas-merton-231_god_therefore-there-is-only-one-problem-on-w_1348421.jpg)

> [“Ask me not where I live or what I like to eat . . . Ask me what I am living for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/ask-me-not-where-i-live-or-what-i-like-to-eat-ask-me-what-i-am-living/)

[Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/)

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> [The spiritual life is first of all a life. It is not merely something to be known and studied, it is to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/the-spiritual-life-is-first-of-all-a-life-it-is-not-merely-something/)

[Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/)

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> [Love in fact is the spiritual life, and without it all the other exercises of the spirit, however lofty, are emptied of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/love-in-fact-is-the-spiritual-life-and-without-it-all-the-other/)

[Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dec/thomas-merton-231_exercise_love-in-fact-is-the-spiritual-life-and-w_859787.jpg)

> [ We do not want to be beginners \[at prayer\]. but let us be convinced of the fact that we will never be… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/we-do-not-want-to-be-beginners-at-prayer-but-let-us-be-convinced-of/)

[Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cec/thomas-merton-231_beginners_we-do-not-want-to-be-beginners-at-prayer_583117.jpg)

> [We cannot possess the truth fully until it has entered into the very substance of our life by good habits, and by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/we-cannot-possess-the-truth-fully-until-it-has-entered-into-the-very/)

[Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a0a/thomas-merton-231_activity_we-cannot-possess-the-truth-fully-until_1170051.jpg)

> [The Christian life, and especially the contemplative life, is a continual discovery of Christ in new and unexpected places.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/the-christian-life-and-especially-the-contemplative-life-is-a/)

[Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/324/thomas-merton-231_christ_the-christian-life-and-especially-the-co_1555967.jpg)

> [Prayer is an expression of who we are...We are a living incompleteness. We are a gap, an emptiness that calls for fulfillment.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/prayer-is-an-expression-of-who-we-are-we-are-a-living-incompleteness/)

[Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d93/thomas-merton-231_emptiness_prayer-is-an-expression-of-who-we-are-we_2424540.jpg)

> [“If I penetrate to the depths of my existence, the indefinable, am, that is myself in its deepest roots, then through this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/if-i-penetrate-to-the-depths-of-my-existence-the-indefinable-am-that/)

[Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b93/thomas-merton-231_god_if-i-penetrate-to-the-depths-of-my-exist_2982763.jpg)

> [Life is this simple: we are living in a world that is absolutely transparent and the divine is shining through it all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/life-is-this-simple-we-are-living-in-a-world-that-is-absolutely/)

[Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/let-no-one-hope-to-find-in-contemplation-an-escape-from-conflict-from/)

[Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/)

> [If nothing that can be seen can either be God or represent Him to us as He is, then to find God we must…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/if-nothing-that-can-be-seen-can-either-be-god-or-represent-him-to-us/)

[Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/)

> [It is almost impossible to overestimate the value of true humility and its power in the spiritual life. For the beginning of humility is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/it-is-almost-impossible-to-overestimate-the-value-of-true-humility/)

[Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/)

> [We are not perfectly free until we live in pure hope. For when our hope is pure, it no longer trusts exclusively in human…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/we-are-not-perfectly-free-until-we-live-in-pure-hope-for-when-our/)

[Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/)

> [The desire to kill is like the desire to attack another with an ingot of red -hot iron: I have to pick up the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/the-desire-to-kill-is-like-the-desire-to-attack-another-with-an-ingot/)

[Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/)

> [To enter into the realm of contemplation one must in a certain sense die: but this death is in fact the entrance to a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/to-enter-into-the-realm-of-contemplation-one-must-in-a-certain-sense/)

[Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/)

> [The mission of Christian humility in social life is not merely to edify, but to keep minds open to many alternatives. The rigidity of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/the-mission-of-christian-humility-in-social-life-is-not-merely-to/)

[Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/)

> [Peace cannot be built on exclusivism, absolutism, and intolerance. But neither can it be built on vague liberal slogans and pious programs gestated in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/peace-cannot-be-built-on-exclusivism-absolutism-and-intolerance-but/)

[Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/)

> [Things that are good are good, and if one is responding to that goodness one is in contact with a truth from which one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/things-that-are-good-are-good-and-if-one-is-responding-to-that/)

[Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/)

> [Love winter when the plant says nothing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/love-winter-when-the-plant-says-nothing/)

[Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/)

> [The logic of worldly success rests on a fallacy: the strange error that our perfection depends on the thoughts and opinions and applause of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/the-logic-of-worldly-success-rests-on-a-fallacy-the-strange-error/)

[Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/)

> [“The wisdom of the flesh is a judgement that the ordinary ends of our natural appetites are the goods to which the whole of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/the-wisdom-of-the-flesh-is-a-judgement-that-the-ordinary-ends-of-our/)

[Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/)

> [I will no longer wound myself with the thoughts and questions that have surrounded me like thorns: that is a penance You do not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/i-will-no-longer-wound-myself-with-the-thoughts-and-questions-that/)

[Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/)

> [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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/if-you-write-for-god-you-will-reach-many-men-and-bring-them-joy-if/)

[Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/)

> [“Contemplation means rest, suspension of activity, withdrawal into the mysterious interior solitude in which the soul is absorbed in the immense and fruitful silence…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/contemplation-means-rest-suspension-of-activity-withdrawal-into-the/)

[Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/)

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                        "text": "To enter into the realm of contemplation one must in a certain sense die: but this death is in fact the entrance to a higher life. It is a death for the sake of life, which leaves behind all that we can know or treasure as life, as thought, as experience, as joy, as being.",
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                        "text": "God must be allowed the right to speak unpredictably… We must find him in our enemy, or we may lose him even in our friend. We must find him in the pagan or we will lose him in our own selves, substituting for his living presence an empty abstraction.",
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                        "text": "Once you have grace,\" I said to him, \"you are free. Without it, you cannot help doing the things you know you should not do, and that you know you don't really want to do. But once you have grace, you are free. When you are baptized, there is no power in existence that can force you to commit a sin-nothing that will be able to drive you to it against your own conscience. And if you merely will it, you will be free forever, because the strength will be given you, as much as you need, and as often as you ask, and as soon as you ask, and generally long before you ask for it, too.",
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                        "text": "It is almost impossible to overestimate the value of true humility and its power in the spiritual life. For the beginning of humility is the beginning of blessedness and the consummation of humility is the perfection of all joy. Humility contains in itself the answer to all the great problems of the life of the soul. It is the only key to faith, with which the spiritual life begins: for faith and humility are inseparable. In perfect humility all selfishness disappears and your soul no longer lives for itself or in itself for God: and it is lost and submerged in Him and transformed into Him.",
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                        "text": "“There is something in the depths of our being that hungers for wholeness and finality. Because we are made for eternal life, we are made for an act that gathers up all the powers and capacities of our being and offers them simultaneously and forever to God. The blind spiritual instinct that tells us obscurely that our owns lives have a particular importance and purpose, and which urges us to find out our vocation, seeks in so doing to bring us to a decision that will dedicate our lives irrevocably to their true purpose. The man who loses this sense of his own personal destiny, and who renounces all hope of having any kind of vocation in life has either lost all hope of happiness or else has entered upon some mysterious vocation that God alone can understand.”",
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                        "text": "Paradoxically, I have found peace because I have always been dissatisfied. My moments of depression and despair turn out to be renewals, new beginnings. If I were once to settle down and be satisfied with the surface of life, with its divisions and its cliches, it would be time to call in the undertaker... So, then, this dissatisfaction which sometimes used to worry me and has certainly, I know, worried others, has helped me in fact to move freely and even gaily with the stream of life.",
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                        "text": "The rush and pressure of modern life are a form, perhaps the most common form, of contemporary violence. To allow oneself to be carried away by a multitude of conflicting concerns, to surrender to too many demands, to commit oneself to too many projects, to want to help everyone in everything, is to succumb to violence. The frenzy of our activity neutralizes our work for peace. It destroys our own inner capacity for peace. It destroys the fruitfulness of our own work, because it kills the root of inner wisdom which makes work fruitful.",
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                        "text": "“Nothing could be more alien to contemplation than the cogito ergo sum of Descartes. “I think, therefore I am.” This is the declaration of an alienated being, in exile from his own spiritual depths, compelled to seek some comfort in a proof for his own existence(!) based on the observation that he ‘“thinks.” If his thought is necessary as a medium through which he arrives at the concept of his existence, then he is in fact only moving further away from his true being. He is reducing himself to a concept. He is making it impossible for himself to experience, directly and immediately, the mystery of his own being.”",
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                        "text": "“Whether you teach or live in the cloister or nurse the sick, whether you are in religion or out of it, married or single, no matter who you are or what you are, you are called to the summit of perfection: you are called to a deep interior life perhaps even to mystical prayer, and to pass the fruits of your contemplation on to others. And if you cannot do so by word, then by example. Yet if this sublime fire of infused love burns in your soul, it will inevitably send forth throughout the Church and the world an influence more tremendous than could be estimated by the radius reached by words or by example.”",
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                        "text": "“Perfect Joy (excerpts) Is there to be found on earth a fullness of joy, or is there no such thing? . . . What the world values is money, reputation, long life, achievement. What it counts as joy is health and comfort of body, good food, fine clothes, beautiful things to look at, pleasant music to listen to. What it condemns is lack of money, a low social rank, a reputation for being no good, and an early death. What it considers misfortune is bodily discomfort and labour, no chance to get your fill of good food, not having good clothes to wear, having no way to amuse or delight the eye, no pleasant music to listen to. If people find that they are deprived of these things, they go into a panic or fall into despair. They are so concerned for their life that their anxiety makes life unbearable, even when they have the things they think they want. Their very concern for enjoyment makes them unhappy. . . . I cannot tell if what the world considers \"happiness\" is happiness or not. All I know is that when I consider the way they go about attaining it, I see them carried away headlong, grim and obsessed, in the general onrush of the human herd, unable to stop themselves or to change their direction. All the while they claim to be just on the point of attaining happiness. . . . My opinion is that you never find happiness until you stop looking for it. My greatest happiness consists precisely in doing nothing whatever that is calculated to obtain happiness: and this, in the minds of most people, is the worst possible course. I will hold to the saying that:\"Perfect Joy is to be without joy. Perfect praise is to be without praise.\" If you ask \"what ought to be done\" and \"what ought not to be done\" on earth in order to produce happiness, I answer that these questions do not have an answer. There is no way of determining such things. Yet at the same time, if I cease striving for happiness, the \"right\" and the \"wrong\" at once become apparent all by themselves. Contentment and well-being at once become possible the moment you cease to act with them in view, and if you practice non-doing (wu wei), you will have both happiness and well-being. Here is how I sum it up: Heaven does nothing: its non-doing is its serenity. Earth does nothing: its non-doing is its rest. From the union of these two non-doings All actions proceed, All things are made. How vast, how invisible This coming-to-be! All things come from nowhere! How vast, how invisible - No way to explain it! All beings in their perfection Are born of non-doing. Hence it is said: \"Heaven and earth do nothing Yet there is nothing they do not do.\" Where is the man who can attain To this non-doing?”",
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                        "text": "“The wisdom of the flesh is a judgement that the ordinary ends of our natural appetites are the goods to which the whole of man’s life are to be ordered. Therefore it inevitably inclines the will to violate God’s law.”",
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                        "text": "“Ultimately the only way that I can be myself is to become identified with Him in Whom is hidden the reason and fulfillment of my existence.”",
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                        "text": "No writing on the solitary, meditative dimensions of life can say anything that has not already been said better by the wind in the pine trees.",
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