---
title: "33 Thinking Quotes By Thomas Merton"
description: "33 Thinking quotes by Thomas Merton. Plus more from Thomas Merton and more Thinking sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/719/thomas-merton-231_alike_we-are-already-one-we-just-think-we-are_625981.jpg"
---

> [We are already ONE. We just think we are separate.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/we-are-already-one-we-just-think-we-are-separate/)

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

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/719/thomas-merton-231_alike_we-are-already-one-we-just-think-we-are_625981.jpg)

> [Thinking prevents the unconscious from speaking.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/thinking-prevents-the-unconscious-from-speaking/)

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

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7b4/thomas-merton-231_grace_thinking-prevents-the-unconscious-from-s_268546.jpg)

> [Stop thinking and start looking.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/stop-thinking-and-start-looking/)

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

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/23d/thomas-merton-231_funny_stop-thinking-and-start-looking-436216_436216.jpg)

> [How can I be sincere if I am constantly changing my mind to conform with the shadow of what I think others…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/how-can-i-be-sincere-if-i-am-constantly-changing-my-mind-to-conform/)

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

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/38c/thomas-merton-231_changing-mind_how-can-i-be-sincere-if-i-am-constantly_3068986.jpg)

> [Our destiny is to live out what we think, because unless we live what we know, we do not even know it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/our-destiny-is-to-live-out-what-we-think-because-unless-we-live-what/)

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

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/905/thomas-merton-231_destiny_our-destiny-is-to-live-out-what-we-think_465180.jpg)

> [May God prevent us from becoming "right-thinking men"-that is to say men who agree perfectly with their own police.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/may-god-prevent-us-from-becoming-right-thinking-men-that-is-to-say/)

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

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/19c/thomas-merton-231_agree_may-god-prevent-us-from-becoming-right-t_697678.jpg)

> [Those who think they 'know' from the beginning will never in fact come to know anything.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/those-who-think-they-know-from-the-beginning-will-never-in-fact-come/)

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

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/436/thomas-merton-231_birth_those-who-think-they-know-from-the-begin_250851.jpg)

> [People are in a hurry to magnify themselves by imitating what is popular- and too lazy to think of anything better.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/people-are-in-a-hurry-to-magnify-themselves-by-imitating-what-is/)

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

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8eb/thomas-merton-231_imitating_people-are-in-a-hurry-to-magnify-themsel_2727687.jpg)

> [How deluded we sometimes are by the clear notions we get out of books. They make us think that we really understand…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/how-deluded-we-sometimes-are-by-the-clear-notions-we-get-out-of-books/)

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

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/390/thomas-merton-231_book_how-deluded-we-sometimes-are-by-the-clea_272265.jpg)

> [Before we can become who we really are, we must become conscious of the fact that the person who we think we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/before-we-can-become-who-we-really-are-we-must-become-conscious-of/)

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

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/798/thomas-merton-231_awakening_before-we-can-become-who-we-really-are-w_2943089.jpg)

> [The real hope is not in something we think we can do, but in God, who is making something good out of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/the-real-hope-is-not-in-something-we-think-we-can-do-but-in-god-who/)

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

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7d3/thomas-merton-231_can-do_the-real-hope-is-not-in-something-we-thi_2730586.jpg)

> [In meditative prayer, one thinks and speaks not only with the mind and lips, but in a certain sense with one's whole…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/in-meditative-prayer-one-thinks-and-speaks-not-only-with-the-mind-and/)

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

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/724/thomas-merton-231_certain_in-meditative-prayer-one-thinks-and-spea_687275.jpg)

> [Thinking about monastic ideals is not the same as living up to them, but at any rate such thinking has an important…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/thinking-about-monastic-ideals-is-not-the-same-as-living-up-to-them/)

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

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e43/thomas-merton-231_happiness_thinking-about-monastic-ideals-is-not-th_844012.jpg)

> [But if you want to identify me, ask me not where I live, or what I like to eat, or how I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/but-if-you-want-to-identify-me-ask-me-not-where-i-live-or-what-i-like/)

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

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c66/thomas-merton-231_ask-me_but-if-you-want-to-identify-me-ask-me-no_2307870.jpg)

> [In humility is the greatest freedom. As long as you have to defend the imaginary self that you think is important, you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/in-humility-is-the-greatest-freedom-as-long-as-you-have-to-defend-the-2/)

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

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/79f/thomas-merton-231_freedom_in-humility-is-the-greatest-freedom-as-l_1773550.jpg)

> [Before we can realize who we really are, we must become conscious of the fact that the person we think we are,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/before-we-can-realize-who-we-really-are-we-must-become-conscious-of/)

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

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1fe/thomas-merton-231_awakening_before-we-can-realize-who-we-really-are_857668.jpg)

> [We must suffer. Our five sense are dulled by inordinate pleasure. Penance makes them keen, gives them back their natural vitality, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/we-must-suffer-our-five-sense-are-dulled-by-inordinate-pleasure/)

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

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f46/thomas-merton-231_action_we-must-suffer-our-five-sense-are-dulled_3167472.jpg)

> [In humility is the greatest freedom. As long as you have to defend the imaginary self that you think is important, you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/in-humility-is-the-greatest-freedom-as-long-as-you-have-to-defend-the/)

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

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/622/thomas-merton-231_compare_in-humility-is-the-greatest-freedom-as-l_1333944.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)

> [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)

> [One thing is certain: the humility of faith, if it is followed by the proper consequences-by the acceptance of the work and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/one-thing-is-certain-the-humility-of-faith-if-it-is-followed-by-the/)

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

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/715/thomas-merton-231_acceptance_one-thing-is-certain-the-humility-of-fai_96004.jpg)

> [Day after day I read Freud, thinking myself to be very enlightened and scientific when, as a matter of fact, I was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/day-after-day-i-read-freud-thinking-myself-to-be-very-enlightened-and/)

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

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/17a/thomas-merton-231_book_day-after-day-i-read-freud-thinking-myse_332262.jpg)

> [After all, what is your personal identity? It is what you really are, your real self. None of us is what he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/after-all-what-is-your-personal-identity-it-is-what-you-really-are/)

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

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/794/thomas-merton-231_concealed_after-all-what-is-your-personal-identity_602683.jpg)

> [Let me say this before rain becomes a utility that they can plan and distribute for money. By "they" I mean the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/let-me-say-this-before-rain-becomes-a-utility-that-they-can-plan-and/)

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

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b4b/thomas-merton-231_appreciate_let-me-say-this-before-rain-becomes-a-ut_1257147.jpg)

> [Instead of hating the people you think are war-makers, hate the appetites and disorder in your own soul, which are the causes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/instead-of-hating-the-people-you-think-are-war-makers-hate-the/)

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

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/27d/thomas-merton-231_appetite_instead-of-hating-the-people-you-think-a_1788689.jpg)

> [On Pride: This sickness is most dangerous when it succeeds in looking like humility. When a proud man thinks he is humble…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/on-pride-this-sickness-is-most-dangerous-when-it-succeeds-in-looking/)

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

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dcd/thomas-merton-231_cases_on-pride-this-sickness-is-most-dangerous_2589171.jpg)

> [Because You have called me here not to wear a label by which I can recognize myself and place myself in some…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/because-you-have-called-me-here-not-to-wear-a-label-by-which-i-can/)

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

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/390/thomas-merton-231_categories_because-you-have-called-me-here-not-to-w_2597890.jpg)

> [My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/my-lord-god-i-have-no-idea-where-i-am-going-i-do-not-see-the-road/)

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

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/082/thomas-merton-231_believe_my-lord-god-i-have-no-idea-where-i-am-go_1590575.jpg)

> [I just remember their kindness and goodness to me, and their peacefulness and their utter simplicity. They inspired real reverence, and I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/i-just-remember-their-kindness-and-goodness-to-me-and-their/)

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

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4e0/thomas-merton-231_common_i-just-remember-their-kindness-and-goodn_1393731.jpg)

> [Everything in modern city life is calculated to keep man from entering into himself and thinking about spiritual things. Even with the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/everything-in-modern-city-life-is-calculated-to-keep-man-from/)

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

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f30/thomas-merton-231_advertising_everything-in-modern-city-life-is-calcul_1350918.jpg)

> [Living is not thinking. Thought is formed and guided by objective reality outside us. Living is the constant adjustment of thought to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/living-is-not-thinking-thought-is-formed-and-guided-by-objective/)

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

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/de5/thomas-merton-231_constant_living-is-not-thinking-thought-is-formed_2597531.jpg)

> [The lights of prayer that make us imagine we are beginning to be angels are sometimes only signs that we are finally…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/the-lights-of-prayer-that-make-us-imagine-we-are-beginning-to-be/)

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

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/300/thomas-merton-231_angel_the-lights-of-prayer-that-make-us-imagin_282025.jpg)

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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": "In meditative prayer, one thinks and speaks not only with the mind and lips, but in a certain sense with one's whole being... All good meditative prayer is a conversation of our entire self to God.",
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                        "text": "Thinking about monastic ideals is not the same as living up to them, but at any rate such thinking has an important place in a monk's life, because you cannot begin to do anything unless you have some idea what you are trying to do.",
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                        "text": "But if you want to identify me, ask me not where I live, or what I like to eat, or how I comb my hair, but ask me what I think I am living for.",
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                        "text": "We must suffer. Our five sense are dulled by inordinate pleasure. Penance makes them keen, gives them back their natural vitality, and more. Penance clears the eye of conscience and of reason. It helps think clearly, judge sanely. It strengthens the action of our will.",
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                        "text": "In humility is the greatest freedom. As long as you have to defend the imaginary self that you think is important, you lose your piece of heart. As soon as you compare that shadow with the shadows of other people, you lose all joy, because you have begun to trade in unrealities and there is no joy in things that do not exist.",
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                        "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.",
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                        "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.",
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                        "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.",
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                        "text": "One thing is certain: the humility of faith, if it is followed by the proper consequences-by the acceptance of the work and sacrifice demanded by our providential task-will do far more to launch us into the full current of historical reality than the pompous rationalizations of politicians who think they are somehow the directors and manipulators of history.",
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                        "text": "Day after day I read Freud, thinking myself to be very enlightened and scientific when, as a matter of fact, I was about as scientific as an old woman secretly poring over books about occultism, trying to tell her own fortune, and learning how to dope out the future form the lines in the palm of her hand. I don't know if I ever got very close to needing a padded cell: but if I ever had gone crazy, I think psychoanalysis would have been the one thing chiefly responsible for it.",
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                        "text": "After all, what is your personal identity? It is what you really are, your real self. None of us is what he thinks he is, or what other people think he is, still less what his passport says he is And it is fortunate for most of us that we are mistaken. We do not generally know what is good for us. That is because, in St. Bernard's language, our true personality has been concealed under the 'disguise' of a false self, the ego, whom we tend to worship in place of God.",
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                        "text": "Let me say this before rain becomes a utility that they can plan and distribute for money. By \"they\" I mean the people who cannot understand that rain is a festival, who do not appreciate its gratuity, who think that what has no price has no value, that what cannot be sold is not real, so that the only way to make something actual is to place it on the market. The time will come when they will sell you even your rain. At the moment it is still free, and I am in it. I celebrate its gratuity and its meaninglessness.",
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                        "text": "Instead of hating the people you think are war-makers, hate the appetites and disorder in your own soul, which are the causes of war. If you love peace, then hate injustice, hate tyranny, hate greed - but hate these things in yourself, not in another.",
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                        "text": "On Pride: This sickness is most dangerous when it succeeds in looking like humility. When a proud man thinks he is humble his case is hopeless.",
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                        "text": "Because You have called me here not to wear a label by which I can recognize myself and place myself in some kind of a category. You do not want me to be thinking about what I am, but about what You are. Or rather, You do not even want me to be thinking about anything much: for You would raise me above the level of thought. And if I am always trying to figure out what I am and where I am and why I am, how will that work be done?",
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                        "text": "My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following Your Will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please You does in fact please You. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing...",
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                        "text": "I just remember their kindness and goodness to me, and their peacefulness and their utter simplicity. They inspired real reverence, and I think, in a way, they were certainly saints. And they were saints in that most effective and telling way: sanctified by leading ordinary lives in a completely supernatural manner, sanctified by obscurity, by usual skills, by common tasks, by routine, but skills, tasks, routine which received a supernatural form from grace within.",
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                        "text": "Everything in modern city life is calculated to keep man from entering into himself and thinking about spiritual things. Even with the best of intentions a spiritual man finds himself exhausted and deadened and debased by the constant noise of machines and loudspeakers, the dead air and the glaring lights of offices and shops, the everlasting suggestion of advertising and propaganda. The whole mechanism of modern life is geared for a flight from God and from the spirit into the wilderness of neurosis.",
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                        "text": "Living is not thinking. Thought is formed and guided by objective reality outside us. Living is the constant adjustment of thought to life and life to thought in such a way that we are always growing, always experiencing new things in the old and old things in the new. Thus life is always new.",
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                        "text": "The lights of prayer that make us imagine we are beginning to be angels are sometimes only signs that we are finally beginning to be men. We do not have a high enough opinion of our own nature. We think we are at the gates of heaven and we are only just beginning to come into our own realm as free and intelligent beings.",
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