--- title: "Best Life Quotations 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/639/thomas-merton-231_every-man_what-every-man-looks-for-in-life-is-his_1132257.jpg" --- > [“What every man looks for in life is his own salvation and the salvation of the men he lives with. By salvation…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/what-every-man-looks-for-in-life-is-his-own-salvation-and-the/) [Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/639/thomas-merton-231_every-man_what-every-man-looks-for-in-life-is-his_1132257.jpg) > [The logic of worldly success rests on a fallacy: the strange error that our perfection depends on the thoughts and opinions and…](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/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/490/thomas-merton-231_applause_the-logic-of-worldly-success-rests-on-a_43739.jpg) > [The primordial blessing, 'increase and multiply', has suddenly become a hemorrhage of terror. We are numbered in billions, and massed together, marshalled,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/the-primordial-blessing-increase-and-multiply-has-suddenly-become-a/) [Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5cb/thomas-merton-231_billions_the-primordial-blessing-increase-and-mul_3069120.jpg) > [We cannot arrive at the perfect possession of God in this life, and that is why we are travelling and in darkness.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/we-cannot-arrive-at-the-perfect-possession-of-god-in-this-life-and/) [Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/33e/thomas-merton-231_darkness_we-cannot-arrive-at-the-perfect-possessi_509644.jpg) > [The question of love is one that cannot be evaded. Whether or not you claim to be interested in it from the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/the-question-of-love-is-one-that-cannot-be-evaded-whether-or-not-you/) [Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ada/thomas-merton-231_alive_the-question-of-love-is-one-that-cannot_2577280.jpg) > [For every gain in deep certitude there is a corresponding growth of superficial "doubt." This doubt is by no means opposed to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/for-every-gain-in-deep-certitude-there-is-a-corresponding-growth-of/) [Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/672/thomas-merton-231_acceptance_for-every-gain-in-deep-certitude-there-i_276348.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-2/) [Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e40/thomas-merton-231_behinds_to-enter-into-the-realm-of-contemplation_2432046.jpg) > [If our life is poured out in useless words, we will never hear anything, never become anything, and in the end, because…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/if-our-life-is-poured-out-in-useless-words-we-will-never-hear/) [Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fbd/thomas-merton-231_decision_if-our-life-is-poured-out-in-useless-wor_2970142.jpg) > [Not only does silence give us a chance to understand ourselves better, to get a truer and more balanced perspective on our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/not-only-does-silence-give-us-a-chance-to-understand-ourselves-better/) [Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/22e/thomas-merton-231_balanced_not-only-does-silence-give-us-a-chance-t_1381828.jpg) > [What is 'grace'? It is God's own life, shared by us. God's life is love. Deus caritas est. By grace we are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/what-is-grace-it-is-god-s-own-life-shared-by-us-god-s-life-is-love/) [Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/719/thomas-merton-231_able_what-is-grace-it-is-god-s-own-life-share_2935854.jpg) > [“There was to be nothing special about it, nothing that savored of a religious Order, no special rule, no distinctive habit. She,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/there-was-to-be-nothing-special-about-it-nothing-that-savored-of-a/) [Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0a5/thomas-merton-231_christian-life_there-was-to-be-nothing-special-about-it_388344.jpg) > [“and burdens of mature life, when they became aware of their own weakness, they lost their peace, they let go of their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/and-burdens-of-mature-life-when-they-became-aware-of-their-own/) [Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/513/thomas-merton-231_confidence_and-burdens-of-mature-life-when-they-bec_225103.jpg) > [Learn how to meditate on paper. Drawing and writing are forms of meditation. Learn how to contemplate works of art. Learn how…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/learn-how-to-meditate-on-paper-drawing-and-writing-are-forms-of/) [Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e3b/thomas-merton-231_art_learn-how-to-meditate-on-paper-drawing-a_1405227.jpg) > [The silence of the spheres is the music of a wedding feast. The more we persist in misunderstanding the phenomena of life,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/the-silence-of-the-spheres-is-the-music-of-a-wedding-feast-the-more/) [Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/54f/thomas-merton-231_cosmic_the-silence-of-the-spheres-is-the-music_2969840.jpg) > [“I should be able to return to solitude each time as to the place I have never described to anybody, as the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/i-should-be-able-to-return-to-solitude-each-time-as-to-the-place-i/) [Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e40/thomas-merton-231_life_i-should-be-able-to-return-to-solitude-e_2144560.jpg) > [A purely mental life may be destructive if it leads us to substitute thought for life and ideas for actions. The activity…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/a-purely-mental-life-may-be-destructive-if-it-leads-us-to-substitute/) [Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/383/thomas-merton-231_action_a-purely-mental-life-may-be-destructive_266188.jpg) > [The mission of Christian humility in social life is not merely to edify, but to keep minds open to many alternatives. The…](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/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b9a/thomas-merton-231_alternatives_the-mission-of-christian-humility-in-soc_26190.jpg) > [Keeping a journal has taught me that there is not so much new in your life as you sometimes think. When you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/keeping-a-journal-has-taught-me-that-there-is-not-so-much-new-in-your/) [Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c6b/thomas-merton-231_deeper_keeping-a-journal-has-taught-me-that-the_2223413.jpg) > [Do not be too quick to assume your enemy is a savage just because he is your enemy. Perhaps he is your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/do-not-be-too-quick-to-assume-your-enemy-is-a-savage-just-because-he/) [Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0d5/thomas-merton-231_assuming_do-not-be-too-quick-to-assume-your-enemy_591899.jpg) > [Life consists in learning to live on one's own, spontaneous, freewheeling: to do this one must recognize what is one's own-be familiar…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/life-consists-in-learning-to-live-on-one-s-own-spontaneous/) [Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/eb4/thomas-merton-231_contemporary_life-consists-in-learning-to-live-on-one_1793494.jpg) > [By my monastic life and vows I am saying no to all the concentration camps, the aerial bombardments, the staged political trials,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/by-my-monastic-life-and-vows-i-am-saying-no-to-all-the-concentration/) [Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/911/thomas-merton-231_camps_by-my-monastic-life-and-vows-i-am-saying_1875217.jpg) > [“Is it any wonder that there can be no peace in a world where everything possible is done to guarantee that the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/is-it-any-wonder-that-there-can-be-no-peace-in-a-world-where/) [Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3f2/thomas-merton-231_life_is-it-any-wonder-that-there-can-be-no-pe_453930.jpg) > [When I am liberated by silence, when I am no longer involved in the measurement of life, but in the living of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/when-i-am-liberated-by-silence-when-i-am-no-longer-involved-in-the/) [Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2f5/thomas-merton-231_distraction_when-i-am-liberated-by-silence-when-i-am_1009607.jpg) > [To be grateful is to recognize the love of God in everything He has given us...and He has given us everything. Every…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/to-be-grateful-is-to-recognize-the-love-of-god-in-everything-he-has-3/) [Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0bf/thomas-merton-231_christian_to-be-grateful-is-to-recognize-the-love_2907614.jpg) > [Since no man ever can, or could, live by himself and for himself alone, the destinies of thousands of other people were…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/since-no-man-ever-can-or-could-live-by-himself-and-for-himself-alone/) [Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f2c/thomas-merton-231_affected_since-no-man-ever-can-or-could-live-by-h_2372351.jpg) > [The solution of the problem of life is life itself. Life is not attained by reasoning and analysis, but first of all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/the-solution-of-the-problem-of-life-is-life-itself-life-is-not-2/) [Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ec5/thomas-merton-231_analysis_the-solution-of-the-problem-of-life-is-l_2666291.jpg) ## Other authors on Life - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b022/author-sunday-adelaja-87912.jpg) Sunday Adelaja 2,086 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/sunday-adelaja/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b001/author-nishan-panwar-14.jpg) Nishan Panwar 1,901 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/nishan-panwar/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b019/author-paulo-coelho-74345.jpg) Paulo Coelho 1,045 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/paulo-coelho/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b001/author-ritu-ghatourey-5.jpg) Ritu Ghatourey 893 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/ritu-ghatourey/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b010/author-frederick-lenz-36205.jpg) Frederick Lenz 659 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/frederick-lenz/) - [Lailah Gifty Akita 630 quotes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/lailah-gifty-akita/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b001/author-anurag-prakash-ray-38.jpg) Anurag Prakash Ray 621 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/anurag-prakash-ray/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b022/author-steve-maraboli-87325.jpg) Steve Maraboli 550 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/steve-maraboli/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b001/author-melchor-lim-61.jpg) Melchor Lim 538 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/melchor-lim/) - [Mehmet Murat ildan 452 quotes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/mehmet-murat-ildan/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b011/author-henry-david-thoreau-41473.jpg) Henry David Thoreau 432 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/henry-david-thoreau/) - [Ralph Waldo Emerson 430 quotes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/ralph-waldo-emerson/) ## 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/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/thomas-merton/#itemlist", "name": "Best Life Quotations by Thomas Merton", "numberOfItems": 26, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“What every man looks for in life is his own salvation and the salvation of the men he lives with. 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We are numbered in billions, and massed together, marshalled, numbered, marched here and there, taxed, drilled, armed, worked to the point of insensibility, dazed by information, drugged by entertainment, surfeited with everything, nauseated with the human race and with ourselves, nauseated with life.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Thomas Merton" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/the-primordial-blessing-increase-and-multiply-has-suddenly-become-a/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5cb/thomas-merton-231_billions_the-primordial-blessing-increase-and-mul_3069120.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5cb/thomas-merton-231_billions_the-primordial-blessing-increase-and-mul_3069120.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5cb/thomas-merton-231_billions_the-primordial-blessing-increase-and-mul_3069120.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The primordial blessing, 'increase and multiply', has suddenly become a hemorrhage of terror. We are…” — Thomas Merton", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "We cannot arrive at the perfect possession of God in this life, and that is why we are travelling and in darkness. But we already possess Him by grace, and therefore in that sense we have arrived and are dwelling in the light. But oh! How far have I to go to find You in Whom I have already arrived!", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Thomas Merton" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/we-cannot-arrive-at-the-perfect-possession-of-god-in-this-life-and/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/33e/thomas-merton-231_darkness_we-cannot-arrive-at-the-perfect-possessi_509644.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/33e/thomas-merton-231_darkness_we-cannot-arrive-at-the-perfect-possessi_509644.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/33e/thomas-merton-231_darkness_we-cannot-arrive-at-the-perfect-possessi_509644.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“We cannot arrive at the perfect possession of God in this life, and that is why we are travelling and in…” — Thomas Merton", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 5, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The question of love is one that cannot be evaded. Whether or not you claim to be interested in it from the moment you are alive you are bound to be concerned with love because love is not just something that happens to you: It is a certain special way of being alive. Love is in fact an intensification of life a completeness a fullness a wholeness of life.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Thomas Merton" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/the-question-of-love-is-one-that-cannot-be-evaded-whether-or-not-you/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ada/thomas-merton-231_alive_the-question-of-love-is-one-that-cannot_2577280.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ada/thomas-merton-231_alive_the-question-of-love-is-one-that-cannot_2577280.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ada/thomas-merton-231_alive_the-question-of-love-is-one-that-cannot_2577280.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The question of love is one that cannot be evaded. Whether or not you claim to be interested in it from the…” — Thomas Merton", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 6, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "For every gain in deep certitude there is a corresponding growth of superficial \"doubt.\" This doubt is by no means opposed to genuine faith, but it mercilessly examines and questions the spurious \"faith\" of everyday life, the human faith which is nothing but the passive acceptance of conventional opinion.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Thomas Merton" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/for-every-gain-in-deep-certitude-there-is-a-corresponding-growth-of/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/672/thomas-merton-231_acceptance_for-every-gain-in-deep-certitude-there-i_276348.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/672/thomas-merton-231_acceptance_for-every-gain-in-deep-certitude-there-i_276348.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/672/thomas-merton-231_acceptance_for-every-gain-in-deep-certitude-there-i_276348.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“For every gain in deep certitude there is a corresponding growth of superficial \"doubt.\" This doubt is by no…” — Thomas Merton", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 7, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "To enter into the realm of contemplation, one must in a certain sense die: but this death is in fact the entrance into 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. [Every form of intuition and experience] die to be born again on a higher level of life.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Thomas Merton" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/to-enter-into-the-realm-of-contemplation-one-must-in-a-certain-sense-2/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e40/thomas-merton-231_behinds_to-enter-into-the-realm-of-contemplation_2432046.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e40/thomas-merton-231_behinds_to-enter-into-the-realm-of-contemplation_2432046.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e40/thomas-merton-231_behinds_to-enter-into-the-realm-of-contemplation_2432046.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“To enter into the realm of contemplation, one must in a certain sense die: but this death is in fact the…” — Thomas Merton", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 8, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "If our life is poured out in useless words, we will never hear anything, never become anything, and in the end, because we have said everything before we had anything to say, we shall be left speechless at the moment of our greatest decision.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Thomas Merton" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/if-our-life-is-poured-out-in-useless-words-we-will-never-hear/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fbd/thomas-merton-231_decision_if-our-life-is-poured-out-in-useless-wor_2970142.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fbd/thomas-merton-231_decision_if-our-life-is-poured-out-in-useless-wor_2970142.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fbd/thomas-merton-231_decision_if-our-life-is-poured-out-in-useless-wor_2970142.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“If our life is poured out in useless words, we will never hear anything, never become anything, and in the…” — Thomas Merton", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 9, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Not only does silence give us a chance to understand ourselves better, to get a truer and more balanced perspective on our own lives in relation to the lives of others: silence makes us whole if we let it. Silence helps draw together the scattered and dissipated energies of a fragmented existence.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Thomas Merton" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/not-only-does-silence-give-us-a-chance-to-understand-ourselves-better/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/22e/thomas-merton-231_balanced_not-only-does-silence-give-us-a-chance-t_1381828.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/22e/thomas-merton-231_balanced_not-only-does-silence-give-us-a-chance-t_1381828.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/22e/thomas-merton-231_balanced_not-only-does-silence-give-us-a-chance-t_1381828.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Not only does silence give us a chance to understand ourselves better, to get a truer and more balanced…” — Thomas Merton", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 10, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "What is 'grace'? It is God's own life, shared by us. God's life is love. Deus caritas est. By grace we are able to share in the infinitely selfless love of Him Who is such pure actuality that He needs nothing and therefore cannot conceivably exploit anything for selfish ends. Indeed, outside of Him there is nothing, and whatever exists exists by His free gift of its being, so that one of the notions that is absolutely contradictory to the perfection of God is selfishness.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Thomas Merton" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/what-is-grace-it-is-god-s-own-life-shared-by-us-god-s-life-is-love/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/719/thomas-merton-231_able_what-is-grace-it-is-god-s-own-life-share_2935854.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/719/thomas-merton-231_able_what-is-grace-it-is-god-s-own-life-share_2935854.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/719/thomas-merton-231_able_what-is-grace-it-is-god-s-own-life-share_2935854.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“What is 'grace'? It is God's own life, shared by us. God's life is love. Deus caritas est. By grace we are…” — Thomas Merton", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 11, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“There was to be nothing special about it, nothing that savored of a religious Order, no special rule, no distinctive habit. She, and those who joined her, would simply be poor--there was no choice on that score, for they were that already--but they would embrace their poverty, and the life of the proletariat in all its misery and insecurity and dead, drab monotony. They would live and work in the slums, lose themselves, in the huge anonymous mass of the forgotten and the derelict, for the only purpose of living the complete, integral Christian life in that environment--loving those around them, sacrificing themselves for those around them, and spreading the Gospel and the truth of Christ most of all by being saints, by living in union with Him, by being full of His Holy Ghost, His charity.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Thomas Merton" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/there-was-to-be-nothing-special-about-it-nothing-that-savored-of-a/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0a5/thomas-merton-231_christian-life_there-was-to-be-nothing-special-about-it_388344.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0a5/thomas-merton-231_christian-life_there-was-to-be-nothing-special-about-it_388344.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0a5/thomas-merton-231_christian-life_there-was-to-be-nothing-special-about-it_388344.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“There was to be nothing special about it, nothing that savored of a religious Order, no special rule, no…” — Thomas Merton", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 12, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“and burdens of mature life, when they became aware of their own weakness, they lost their peace, they let go of their precious self-respect, and it became impossible for them to “believe.” That is to say it became impossible for them to comfort themselves, to reassure themselves, with the images and concepts that they found reassuring in childhood. Place no hope in the feeling of assurance, in spiritual comfort. You may well have to get along without this. Place no hope in the inspirational preachers of Christian sunshine, who are able to pick you up and set you back on your feet and make you feel good for three or four days—until you fold up and collapse into despair. Self-confidence is a precious natural gift, a sign of health. But it is not the same thing as faith. Faith is much deeper, and it must be deep enough to subsist when we are weak, when we are sick, when our self-confidence is gone, when our self-respect is gone. I do not mean that faith only functions when we are otherwise in a state of collapse. But true faith must be able to go on even when everything else is taken away from us. Only a humble man is able to accept faith on these terms, so completely without reservation that he is glad of it in its pure state, and welcomes it happily even when nothing else comes with it, and when everything else is taken away.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Thomas Merton" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/and-burdens-of-mature-life-when-they-became-aware-of-their-own/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/513/thomas-merton-231_confidence_and-burdens-of-mature-life-when-they-bec_225103.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/513/thomas-merton-231_confidence_and-burdens-of-mature-life-when-they-bec_225103.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/513/thomas-merton-231_confidence_and-burdens-of-mature-life-when-they-bec_225103.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“and burdens of mature life, when they became aware of their own weakness, they lost their peace, they let go…” — Thomas Merton", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 13, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Learn how to meditate on paper. Drawing and writing are forms of meditation. Learn how to contemplate works of art. Learn how to pray in the streets or in the country. Know how to meditate not only when you have a book in your hand but when you are waiting for a bus or riding in a train.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Thomas Merton" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/learn-how-to-meditate-on-paper-drawing-and-writing-are-forms-of/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e3b/thomas-merton-231_art_learn-how-to-meditate-on-paper-drawing-a_1405227.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e3b/thomas-merton-231_art_learn-how-to-meditate-on-paper-drawing-a_1405227.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e3b/thomas-merton-231_art_learn-how-to-meditate-on-paper-drawing-a_1405227.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Learn how to meditate on paper. Drawing and writing are forms of meditation. Learn how to contemplate works…” — Thomas Merton", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 14, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The silence of the spheres is the music of a wedding feast. The more we persist in misunderstanding the phenomena of life, the more we analyze them out into strange finalities and complex purposes of our own, the more we involve ourselves in sadness. But it does not matter much because no despair of ours can alter the reality of things, or stain the joy of the cosmic dance which is always there.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Thomas Merton" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/the-silence-of-the-spheres-is-the-music-of-a-wedding-feast-the-more/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/54f/thomas-merton-231_cosmic_the-silence-of-the-spheres-is-the-music_2969840.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/54f/thomas-merton-231_cosmic_the-silence-of-the-spheres-is-the-music_2969840.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/54f/thomas-merton-231_cosmic_the-silence-of-the-spheres-is-the-music_2969840.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The silence of the spheres is the music of a wedding feast. The more we persist in misunderstanding the…” — Thomas Merton", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 15, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“I should be able to return to solitude each time as to the place I have never described to anybody, as the place which I have never brought anyone to see, as the place whose silence has mothered an interior life known to no one but God alone.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Thomas Merton" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/i-should-be-able-to-return-to-solitude-each-time-as-to-the-place-i/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e40/thomas-merton-231_life_i-should-be-able-to-return-to-solitude-e_2144560.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e40/thomas-merton-231_life_i-should-be-able-to-return-to-solitude-e_2144560.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e40/thomas-merton-231_life_i-should-be-able-to-return-to-solitude-e_2144560.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I should be able to return to solitude each time as to the place I have never described to anybody, as the…” — Thomas Merton", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 16, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "A purely mental life may be destructive if it leads us to substitute thought for life and ideas for actions. The activity proper to man is purely mental because man is not just a disembodied mind. Our destiny is to live out what we think, because unless we live what we know, we do not even know it. It is only by making our knowledge part of ourselves, through action, that we enter into the reality that is signified by our concepts.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Thomas Merton" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/a-purely-mental-life-may-be-destructive-if-it-leads-us-to-substitute/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/383/thomas-merton-231_action_a-purely-mental-life-may-be-destructive_266188.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/383/thomas-merton-231_action_a-purely-mental-life-may-be-destructive_266188.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/383/thomas-merton-231_action_a-purely-mental-life-may-be-destructive_266188.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“A purely mental life may be destructive if it leads us to substitute thought for life and ideas for actions…” — Thomas Merton", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 17, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The mission of Christian humility in social life is not merely to edify, but to keep minds open to many alternatives. The rigidity of a certain type of Christian thought has seriously impaired this capacity, which nonviolence must recover.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Thomas Merton" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/the-mission-of-christian-humility-in-social-life-is-not-merely-to/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b9a/thomas-merton-231_alternatives_the-mission-of-christian-humility-in-soc_26190.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b9a/thomas-merton-231_alternatives_the-mission-of-christian-humility-in-soc_26190.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b9a/thomas-merton-231_alternatives_the-mission-of-christian-humility-in-soc_26190.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The mission of Christian humility in social life is not merely to edify, but to keep minds open to many…” — Thomas Merton", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 18, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Keeping a journal has taught me that there is not so much new in your life as you sometimes think. When you re-read your journal you find out that your latest discovery is something you already found out five years ago. Still, it is true that one penetrates deeper and deeper into the same ideas and the same experiences.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Thomas Merton" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/keeping-a-journal-has-taught-me-that-there-is-not-so-much-new-in-your/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c6b/thomas-merton-231_deeper_keeping-a-journal-has-taught-me-that-the_2223413.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c6b/thomas-merton-231_deeper_keeping-a-journal-has-taught-me-that-the_2223413.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c6b/thomas-merton-231_deeper_keeping-a-journal-has-taught-me-that-the_2223413.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Keeping a journal has taught me that there is not so much new in your life as you sometimes think. When you…” — Thomas Merton", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 19, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Do not be too quick to assume your enemy is a savage just because he is your enemy. Perhaps he is your enemy because he thinks you are a savage. Or perhaps he is afraid of you because he feels that you are afraid of him. And perhaps if he believed you are capable of loving him he would no longer be your enemy.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Thomas Merton" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/do-not-be-too-quick-to-assume-your-enemy-is-a-savage-just-because-he/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0d5/thomas-merton-231_assuming_do-not-be-too-quick-to-assume-your-enemy_591899.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0d5/thomas-merton-231_assuming_do-not-be-too-quick-to-assume-your-enemy_591899.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0d5/thomas-merton-231_assuming_do-not-be-too-quick-to-assume-your-enemy_591899.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Do not be too quick to assume your enemy is a savage just because he is your enemy. Perhaps he is your enemy…” — Thomas Merton", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 20, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Life consists in learning to live on one's own, spontaneous, freewheeling: to do this one must recognize what is one's own-be familiar and at home with oneself. This means basically learning who one is, and learning what one has to offer to the contemporary world, and then learning how to make that offering valid.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Thomas Merton" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/life-consists-in-learning-to-live-on-one-s-own-spontaneous/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/eb4/thomas-merton-231_contemporary_life-consists-in-learning-to-live-on-one_1793494.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/eb4/thomas-merton-231_contemporary_life-consists-in-learning-to-live-on-one_1793494.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/eb4/thomas-merton-231_contemporary_life-consists-in-learning-to-live-on-one_1793494.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Life consists in learning to live on one's own, spontaneous, freewheeling: to do this one must recognize…” — Thomas Merton", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 21, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "By my monastic life and vows I am saying no to all the concentration camps, the aerial bombardments, the staged political trials, the judicial murders, the racial injustices, the economic tyrannies, and the whole socioeconomic apparatus which seems geared for nothing but global destruction in spite of all its fair words in favor of peace.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Thomas Merton" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/by-my-monastic-life-and-vows-i-am-saying-no-to-all-the-concentration/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/911/thomas-merton-231_camps_by-my-monastic-life-and-vows-i-am-saying_1875217.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/911/thomas-merton-231_camps_by-my-monastic-life-and-vows-i-am-saying_1875217.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/911/thomas-merton-231_camps_by-my-monastic-life-and-vows-i-am-saying_1875217.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“By my monastic life and vows I am saying no to all the concentration camps, the aerial bombardments, the…” — Thomas Merton", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 22, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Is it any wonder that there can be no peace in a world where everything possible is done to guarantee that the youth of every nation will grow up absolutely without moral and religious discipline, and without the shadow of an interior life, or of that spirituality and charity and faith which alone can safeguard the treaties and agreements made by governments?”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Thomas Merton" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/is-it-any-wonder-that-there-can-be-no-peace-in-a-world-where/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3f2/thomas-merton-231_life_is-it-any-wonder-that-there-can-be-no-pe_453930.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3f2/thomas-merton-231_life_is-it-any-wonder-that-there-can-be-no-pe_453930.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3f2/thomas-merton-231_life_is-it-any-wonder-that-there-can-be-no-pe_453930.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Is it any wonder that there can be no peace in a world where everything possible is done to guarantee that…” — Thomas Merton", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 23, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "When I am liberated by silence, when I am no longer involved in the measurement of life, but in the living of it, I can discover a form of prayer in which there is effectively no distraction. My whole life becomes a prayer. My whole silence is full of prayer. The world of silence in which I am immersed contributes to my prayer.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Thomas Merton" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/when-i-am-liberated-by-silence-when-i-am-no-longer-involved-in-the/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2f5/thomas-merton-231_distraction_when-i-am-liberated-by-silence-when-i-am_1009607.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2f5/thomas-merton-231_distraction_when-i-am-liberated-by-silence-when-i-am_1009607.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2f5/thomas-merton-231_distraction_when-i-am-liberated-by-silence-when-i-am_1009607.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“When I am liberated by silence, when I am no longer involved in the measurement of life, but in the living…” — Thomas Merton", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 24, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "To be grateful is to recognize the love of God in everything He has given us...and He has given us everything. Every breath we draw is a gift of His love, every moment of existence is a grace, for it brings with it immense graces from Him.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Thomas Merton" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/to-be-grateful-is-to-recognize-the-love-of-god-in-everything-he-has-3/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0bf/thomas-merton-231_christian_to-be-grateful-is-to-recognize-the-love_2907614.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0bf/thomas-merton-231_christian_to-be-grateful-is-to-recognize-the-love_2907614.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0bf/thomas-merton-231_christian_to-be-grateful-is-to-recognize-the-love_2907614.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“To be grateful is to recognize the love of God in everything He has given us...and He has given us…” — Thomas Merton", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 25, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Since no man ever can, or could, live by himself and for himself alone, the destinies of thousands of other people were bound to be affected, some remotely, but some very directly and near-at-hand, by my own choices and decisions and desires, as my own life would also be formed and modified according to theirs.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Thomas Merton" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/since-no-man-ever-can-or-could-live-by-himself-and-for-himself-alone/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f2c/thomas-merton-231_affected_since-no-man-ever-can-or-could-live-by-h_2372351.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f2c/thomas-merton-231_affected_since-no-man-ever-can-or-could-live-by-h_2372351.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f2c/thomas-merton-231_affected_since-no-man-ever-can-or-could-live-by-h_2372351.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Since no man ever can, or could, live by himself and for himself alone, the destinies of thousands of other…” — Thomas Merton", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 26, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The solution of the problem of life is life itself. Life is not attained by reasoning and analysis, but first of all by living. For until we have begun to live our prudence has no material to work on. And until we have begun to fail we have no way of working out our success.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Thomas Merton" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/the-solution-of-the-problem-of-life-is-life-itself-life-is-not-2/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ec5/thomas-merton-231_analysis_the-solution-of-the-problem-of-life-is-l_2666291.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ec5/thomas-merton-231_analysis_the-solution-of-the-problem-of-life-is-l_2666291.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ec5/thomas-merton-231_analysis_the-solution-of-the-problem-of-life-is-l_2666291.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The solution of the problem of life is life itself. 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