And that is why the man who wants to see clearly, before he will believe, never starts on the journey. — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
To be ordinary is not a choice: It is the usual freedom of men without visions. — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
A man searching for enlightenment is like a man sitting on an Ass in search of an Ass — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
If a man is to live, he must be all alive, body, soul, mind, heart, spirit. — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
Meditation is one of the ways in which the spiritual man keeps himself awake. — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
The Holy Spirit is the most perfect gift of the Father to men, and yet He is the one gift which the… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
Modern man believes he is fruitful and productive when his ego is aggressively affirmed, when he is visibly active, and when his… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
The only right way: to love and serve the man of the modern world, but not simply to succumb, with him, to… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
The fruitfulness of our lives depends in large measure in our ability to doubt our own words and to question the value… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
We are so obsessed with doing that we have no time and no imagination left for being. As a result, men are… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
No matter how ruined man and his world may seem to be, and no matter how terrible man's despair may become, as… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
The man who lives in division is living in death. He cannot find himself because he is lost; he has ceased to… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
One of the first things to learn if you want to be a contemplative is to mind your own business. Nothing is… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
When society is made up of men who know no interior solitude it can no longer be held together by love: and… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
I have the immense joy of being man, a member of a race in which God Himself became incarnate. As if the… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
If you write for God you will reach many men and bring them joy. If you write for men--you may make some… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
Since no man ever can, or could, live by himself and for himself alone, the destinies of thousands of other people were… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
For power can guarantee the interests of some men but it can never foster the good of man. Power always protects the… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
Some of us need to discover that we will not begin to live more fully until we have the courage to do… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
Peace cannot be built on exclusivism, absolutism, and intolerance. But neither can it be built on vague liberal slogans and pious programs… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
As long as we are on earth, the love that unites us will bring us suffering by our very contact with one… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
To some men peace merely means the liberty to exploit other people without fear of retaliation or interference. To others peace means… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
First of all, although men have a common destiny, each individual also has to work out his own personal salvation for himself… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
First, the desert is the country of madness. Second, it is the refuge of the devil, thrown out into the "wilderness of… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
The man who fears to be alone will never be anything but lonely, no matter how much he may surround himself with… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
For now, oh my God, it is to You alone that I can talk, because nobody else will understand. I cannot bring… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
It is not humility to insist on being someone that you are not. It is as much as saying that you know… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
The devil is no fool. He can get people feeling about heaven the way they ought to feel about hell. He can… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
Everything in modern city life is calculated to keep man from entering into himself and thinking about spiritual things. Even with the… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
How do you expect to arrive at the end of your own journey if you take the road to another man's city? — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
Be human in this most inhuman of ages; guard the image of man for it is the image of God. — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
The man of faith who has never experienced doubt is not a man of faith. — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
While some men see ordinary happenings, others see divine light and guidance. — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
Every other man is a piece of myself, for I am a part and a member of mankind. — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
To love our nothingness we must love everything in us that the proud man loves when he loves himself. But we must… — 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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
“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 Image
