People Quotes by Thomas Merton

A faith that is afraid of other people is no faith at all.

— Thomas Merton

A faith that is afraid of other people is not faith at all.

— Thomas Merton

People are in a hurry to magnify themselves by imitating what is popular- and too lazy to think of anything better.

— Thomas Merton

There is no way of telling people that they are all walking around shining like the sun.

— Thomas Merton

People have no idea what one saint can do: for sanctity is stronger than the whole of hell.

— Thomas Merton

People may spend their whole lives climbing the ladder of success only to find, once they reach the top, that the ladder…

— Thomas Merton

I cannot make the universe obey me. I cannot make other people conform to my own whims and fancies. I cannot make…

— Thomas Merton

The truth that many people never understand until it is too late is that the more you try to avoid suffering, the…

— Thomas Merton

Humble people can do great things with uncommon perfection because they are no longer concerned about their own interests and their own…

— Thomas Merton

That is God's call to us - simply to be people who are content to live close to him and to renew…

— Thomas Merton

I stand among you as one who offers a small message of hope. . . there are always people who dare to…

— Thomas Merton

In the natural order no matter what ideals may be theoretically possible, most people more or less live for themselves and for…

— Thomas Merton

Since no man ever can, or could, live by himself and for himself alone, the destinies of thousands of other people were…

— Thomas Merton

Creation was given to people as a clean window through which the light of God could shine into people's souls. Sun and…

— Thomas Merton

In humility is the greatest freedom. As long as you have to defend the imaginary self that you think is important, you…

— Thomas Merton

Curiously, the most serious religious people, or the most concerned scholars, those who constantly read the Bible as a matter of professional…

— Thomas Merton

The importance of detachment from things, the importance of poverty, is that we are supposed to be free from things that we…

— Thomas Merton

I am beginning to realize that "sanity" is no longer a value or an end in itself. The "sanity" of modern man…

— Thomas Merton

The man who fears to be alone will never be anything but lonely, no matter how much he may surround himself with…

— Thomas Merton

Let me say this before rain becomes a utility that they can plan and distribute for money. By "they" I mean the…

— Thomas Merton

After all, what is your personal identity? It is what you really are, your real self. None of us is what he…

— Thomas Merton

To some men peace merely means the liberty to exploit other people without fear of retaliation or interference. To others peace means…

— Thomas Merton

If we wait for some people to become agreeable or attractive before we begin to love them, we will never begin. If…

— Thomas Merton

Do not depend on the hope of results. You may have to face the fact that your work will be apparently worthless…

— Thomas Merton

The devil is no fool. He can get people feeling about heaven the way they ought to feel about hell. He can…

— Thomas Merton

I have the immense joy of being man, a member of a race in which God Himself became incarnate. As if the…

— Thomas Merton

It is a glorious destiny to be a member of the human race, now I realize what we all are . If…

— Thomas Merton

We are living in a world that is absolutely transparent and God is shining through it all the time. God manifests Himself…

— Thomas Merton

I am willing to admit that some people might live there for years, or even a lifetime, so protected that they never…

— Thomas Merton

In order to find God in ourselves, we must stop looking at ourselves, stop checking and verifying ourselves in the mirror of…

— Thomas Merton

In Louisville, at the corner of Fourth and Walnut, in the center of the shopping district, I was suddenly overwhelmed with the…

— Thomas Merton

There are crimes which no one would commit as an individual which he willingly and bravely commits when acting in the name…

— Thomas Merton

Instead of hating the people you think are war-makers, hate the appetites and disorder in your own soul, which are the causes…

— Thomas Merton

If a writer is so cautious that he never writes anything that cannot be criticized, he will never be able to write…

— Thomas Merton

I am beginning to realize that "sanity" is no longer a value or an end in itself. If modern people were a…

— Thomas Merton

The danger of education, I have found, is that it so easily confuses means with ends. Worse than that, it quite easily…

— Thomas Merton