Weaknesses and deficiencies . . . play a most important part in all our lives. It is because of them that we… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
Only the man who has had to face despair is really convinced that he needs mercy. Those who do not want mercy… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
The greatest need of our time is to clean out the enormous mass of mental and emotional rubbish that clutters our minds — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
Once you have grace," I said to him, "you are free. Without it, you cannot help doing the things you know you… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
In general, it can be said that no contemplative life is possible without ascetic self-discipline. One must learn to survive without the… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
Not all of us are called to be hermits, but all of us need enough silence and solitude in our lives to… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
We cannot find Him unless we know we need Him. We forget this need when we take a self-sufficient pleasure in our… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
Souls are like athletes, that need opponents worthy of them, if they are to be tried and extended and pushed to the… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
We cannot master everything, taste everything, understand everything, drain every experience to its last dregs. But if we have the courage to… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
Nevertheless, the liturgy of Ash Wednesday is not focussed on the sinfulness of the penitent but on the mercy of God. The… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
None of our prayers should ever be petitions for our own needs: for this is only another subtle way of trying to… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
Are they moved by a sense of human need for silence, for reflection, for inner seeking? So they want to get away… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
The things we really need come to us only as gifts, and in order to receive them as gifts we have to… — 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
You do not need to know precisely what is happening, or exactly where it is all going. What you need is to… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
It is a kind of pride to insist that none of our prayers should ever be petitions for our own needs: for… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
Be still: There is no longer any need of comment. It was a lucky wind That blew away his halo with his… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
... but any fool knows that you don't need money to get enjoyment out of life. — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
For our duties and our needs, in all the fundamental things for which we were created, come down in practice to the… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
Stop asking yourself questions that have no meaning. Or if they have, you'll find out when you need to -- find out… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
Humble people can do great things with uncommon perfection because they are no longer concerned about their own interests and their own… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
When you expect the world to end at any moment, you know there is no need to hurry. You take your time,… — 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
