---
title: "42 Way Quotes By Thomas Merton"
description: "42 Way quotes by Thomas Merton. Plus more from Thomas Merton and more Way sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c07/thomas-merton-231_alive_love-is-a-special-way-of-being-alive-770_770835.jpg"
---

> [Love is a special way of being alive.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/love-is-a-special-way-of-being-alive/)

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

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c07/thomas-merton-231_alive_love-is-a-special-way-of-being-alive-770_770835.jpg)

> [The only way to make a man worthy of love is by loving him.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/the-only-way-to-make-a-man-worthy-of-love-is-by-loving-him/)

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

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a0a/thomas-merton-231_love_the-only-way-to-make-a-man-worthy-of-lov_2575168.jpg)

> [There is no way of telling people that they are all walking around shining like the sun.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/there-is-no-way-of-telling-people-that-they-are-all-walking-around/)

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

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/adf/thomas-merton-231_esteem_there-is-no-way-of-telling-people-that-t_710226.jpg)

> [Prayer is not so much a way to find God as a way of resting in him...who loves us, who is near…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/prayer-is-not-so-much-a-way-to-find-god-as-a-way-of-resting-in-him/)

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

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/066/thomas-merton-231_inspirational_prayer-is-not-so-much-a-way-to-find-god_2797669.jpg)

> [The simplest and most effective way to sanctity is to disappear into the background of ordinary every day routine.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/the-simplest-and-most-effective-way-to-sanctity-is-to-disappear-into-2/)

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

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/74f/thomas-merton-231_backgrounds_the-simplest-and-most-effective-way-to-s_2949684.jpg)

> [Solitude is a way to defend the spirit against the murderous din of our materialism.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/solitude-is-a-way-to-defend-the-spirit-against-the-murderous-din-of/)

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

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/377/thomas-merton-231_materialism_solitude-is-a-way-to-defend-the-spirit-a_2058871.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)

> [Meditation is one of the ways in which the spiritual man keeps himself awake.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/meditation-is-one-of-the-ways-in-which-the-spiritual-man-keeps/)

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

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a2b/thomas-merton-231_awake_meditation-is-one-of-the-ways-in-which-t_537194.jpg)

> [Actions are the doors and windows of being. Unless we act, we have no way of knowing what we are.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/actions-are-the-doors-and-windows-of-being-unless-we-act-we-have-no/)

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

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/028/thomas-merton-231_action_actions-are-the-doors-and-windows-of-bei_1396394.jpg)

> [The only right way: to love and serve the man of the modern world, but not simply to succumb, with him, to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/the-only-right-way-to-love-and-serve-the-man-of-the-modern-world-but/)

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

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/082/thomas-merton-231_he-man_the-only-right-way-to-love-and-serve-the_1877421.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)

> [“I seek to speak to you, in some way, as your own self. Who can tell what this may mean? I myself…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/i-seek-to-speak-to-you-in-some-way-as-your-own-self-who-can-tell-what/)

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

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ba7/thomas-merton-231_book_i-seek-to-speak-to-you-in-some-way-as-yo_636658.jpg)

> [To those who have no personal experience of this revolutionary aspect of Christian truth, but who see only the outer crust of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/to-those-who-have-no-personal-experience-of-this-revolutionary-aspect/)

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

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/76a/thomas-merton-231_aspect_to-those-who-have-no-personal-experience_1032151.jpg)

> [We who claim to love peace and justice must always be careful that we do not use our righteousness to provoke the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/we-who-claim-to-love-peace-and-justice-must-always-be-careful-that-we/)

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

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/89b/thomas-merton-231_barbarity_we-who-claim-to-love-peace-and-justice-m_2822727.jpg)

> [Cupidity...takes created things for ends in themselves, which they are not. The will that seeks rest in creatures for their own sake…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/cupidity-takes-created-things-for-ends-in-themselves-which-they-are/)

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

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/780/thomas-merton-231_capacity_cupidity-takes-created-things-for-ends-i_1185897.jpg)

> [Finally I am coming to the conclusion that my highest ambition is to be what I already am. That I will never…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/finally-i-am-coming-to-the-conclusion-that-my-highest-ambition-is-to/)

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

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b67/thomas-merton-231_accepting_finally-i-am-coming-to-the-conclusion-th_664365.jpg)

> [They were in the world and not of it--not because they were saints, but in a different way: because they were artists.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/they-were-in-the-world-and-not-of-it-not-because-they-were-saints-but/)

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

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/52f/thomas-merton-231_art_they-were-in-the-world-and-not-of-it-not_1794225.jpg)

> [None of our prayers should ever be petitions for our own needs: for this is only another subtle way of trying to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/none-of-our-prayers-should-ever-be-petitions-for-our-own-needs-for/)

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

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2b1/thomas-merton-231_acting_none-of-our-prayers-should-ever-be-petit_1831490.jpg)

> [There are crimes which no one would commit as an individual which he willingly and bravely commits when acting in the name…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/there-are-crimes-which-no-one-would-commit-as-an-individual-which-he/)

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

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/925/thomas-merton-231_acting_there-are-crimes-which-no-one-would-comm_2406060.jpg)

> [It is true that neither the ancient wisdoms nor the modern sciences are complete in themselves. They do not stand alone. They…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/it-is-true-that-neither-the-ancient-wisdoms-nor-the-modern-sciences/)

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

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/948/thomas-merton-231_ancient_it-is-true-that-neither-the-ancient-wisd_335025.jpg)

> [It is a kind of pride to insist that none of our prayers should ever be petitions for our own needs: for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/it-is-a-kind-of-pride-to-insist-that-none-of-our-prayers-should-ever/)

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

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/281/thomas-merton-231_acting_it-is-a-kind-of-pride-to-insist-that-non_2562875.jpg)

> [The devil is no fool. He can get people feeling about heaven the way they ought to feel about hell. He can…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/the-devil-is-no-fool-he-can-get-people-feeling-about-heaven-the-way/)

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

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/afc/thomas-merton-231_chill_the-devil-is-no-fool-he-can-get-people-f_1900997.jpg)

> [Things that are good are good, and if one is responding to that goodness one is in contact with a truth from…](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/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/062/thomas-merton-231_air_things-that-are-good-are-good-and-if-one_37769.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)

> [Imagination has the creative task of making symbols, joining things together in such a way that they throw new light on each…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/imagination-has-the-creative-task-of-making-symbols-joining-things/)

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

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3c0/thomas-merton-231_art_imagination-has-the-creative-task-of-mak_1477948.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)

> [Ultimately faith is the only key to the universe. The final meaning of human existence, and the answers to the questions on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/ultimately-faith-is-the-only-key-to-the-universe-the-final-meaning-of/)

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

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/549/thomas-merton-231_answers_ultimately-faith-is-the-only-key-to-the_3053232.jpg)

> [I can depend less and less on my own power and sense of direction...It is so strange to advance backwards and get…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/i-can-depend-less-and-less-on-my-own-power-and-sense-of-direction-it/)

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

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4e7/thomas-merton-231_backwards_i-can-depend-less-and-less-on-my-own-pow_608709.jpg)

> [The logic of the poet - that is, the logic of language or the experience itself - develops the way a living…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/the-logic-of-the-poet-that-is-the-logic-of-language-or-the-experience/)

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

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d01/thomas-merton-231_biology_the-logic-of-the-poet-that-is-the-logic_2335392.jpg)

> [The Lord did not create suffering. Pain and death came into the world with the fall of man. But after man had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/the-lord-did-not-create-suffering-pain-and-death-came-into-the-world/)

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

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/55a/thomas-merton-231_chosen_the-lord-did-not-create-suffering-pain-a_1530924.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)

> [The humble person receives praise the way a clean window takes the light of the sun. The truer and more intense the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/the-humble-person-receives-praise-the-way-a-clean-window-takes-the/)

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

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2b6/thomas-merton-231_clean_the-humble-person-receives-praise-the-wa_1419750.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)

> [“I have my own way to walk and for some reason or other Zen is right in the middle of it wherever…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/i-have-my-own-way-to-walk-and-for-some-reason-or-other-zen-is-right/)

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

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/852/thomas-merton-231_asphyxiation_i-have-my-own-way-to-walk-and-for-some-r_83507.jpg)

> [Very well, then: why are you attached to any one book, or to the words and ways of one saint when he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/very-well-then-why-are-you-attached-to-any-one-book-or-to-the-words/)

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

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/368/thomas-merton-231_book_very-well-then-why-are-you-attached-to-a_1410680.jpg)

> [Things that are good are good, and if one is responding to that goodness one is in contact with a truth from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/things-that-are-good-are-good-and-if-one-is-responding-to-that-2/)

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

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1a1/thomas-merton-231_air_things-that-are-good-are-good-and-if-one_724012.jpg)

> [Then it was as if I suddenly saw the secret beauty of their hearts, the depths of their hearts where neither sin…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/then-it-was-as-if-i-suddenly-saw-the-secret-beauty-of-their-hearts/)

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

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5ae/thomas-merton-231_beauty_then-it-was-as-if-i-suddenly-saw-the-sec_1685106.jpg)

> [I have the immense joy of being man, a member of a race in which God Himself became incarnate. As if the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/i-have-the-immense-joy-of-being-man-a-member-of-a-race-in-which-god/)

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

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0f6/thomas-merton-231_conditions_i-have-the-immense-joy-of-being-man-a-me_839047.jpg)

> [The land which thou goest to possess is not like the land of Egypt from whence thou camest out... For my thoughts…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/the-land-which-thou-goest-to-possess-is-not-like-the-land-of-egypt/)

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

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/19e/thomas-merton-231_bread_the-land-which-thou-goest-to-possess-is_2193676.jpg)

> [You must realize that it is the ordinary way of God's dealings with us that our ideas do not work out speedily…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-merton/you-must-realize-that-it-is-the-ordinary-way-of-god-s-dealings-with/)

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

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c79/thomas-merton-231_absurd_you-must-realize-that-it-is-the-ordinary_779175.jpg)

## Other authors on Way

## 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": "They were in the world and not of it--not because they were saints, but in a different way: because they were artists. The integrity of an artist lifts a man above the level of the world without delivering him from it.",
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                        "text": "None of our prayers should ever be petitions for our own needs: for this is only another subtle way of trying to put ourselves on the same plane as God — acting as if we had no needs, as if we were not creatures, not dependent on Him.",
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                        "text": "There are crimes which no one would commit as an individual which he willingly and bravely commits when acting in the name of his society, because he has been (too easily) convinced that evil is entirely different when it is done 'for the common good.'...one might point to the way in which racial hatreds and even persecution are admitted by people who consider themselves, and perhaps in some sense are, kind, tolerant, civilized and even humane.",
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                        "text": "It is true that neither the ancient wisdoms nor the modern sciences are complete in themselves. They do not stand alone. They call for one another. Wisdom without science is unable to penetrate the full sapiential meaning of the created and the material cosmos. Science without wisdom leaves man enslaved to a world of unrelated objects in which there is no way of discovering (or creating) order and deep significance in man's own pointless existence. (p. 4)",
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                        "text": "It is a kind of pride to insist that none of our prayers should ever be petitions for our own needs: for this is only another subtle way of trying to put ourselves on the same plane as God – acting as if we had no needs, as if we were not creatures, not dependent on Him and dependent, by His will, on material things, too.",
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                        "text": "The devil is no fool. He can get people feeling about heaven the way they ought to feel about hell. He can make them fear the means of grace the way they do not fear sin. And he does so, not by light but by obscurity, not by realities but by shadows; not by clarity and substance, but by dreams and the creatures of psychosis. And men are so poor in intellect that a few cold chills down their spine will be enough to keep them from ever finding out the truth about anything.",
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                        "text": "Things that are good are good, and if one is responding to that goodness one is in contact with a truth from which one is getting something. The truth is doing us good. The truth of the sunshine, the truth of the rain, the truth of the fresh air, the truth of the wind in the trees, these are truths. And they are always accessible!",
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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": "Imagination has the creative task of making symbols, joining things together in such a way that they throw new light on each other and on everything around them. The imagination is a discovering faculty, a faculty for seeing relationships, for seeing meanings that are special and even quite new.",
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                        "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.",
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                        "text": "Ultimately faith is the only key to the universe. The final meaning of human existence, and the answers to the questions on which all our happiness depends cannot be found in any other way.",
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                        "text": "I can depend less and less on my own power and sense of direction...It is so strange to advance backwards and get where you are going in a totally unexpected way",
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                        "text": "The logic of the poet - that is, the logic of language or the experience itself - develops the way a living organism grows: it spreads out towards what it loves, and is heliotropic, like a plant.",
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                        "text": "The Lord did not create suffering. Pain and death came into the world with the fall of man. But after man had chosen suffering in preference to the joys of union with God, the Lord turned suffering itself into a way by which man could come to the perfect knowledge of God.",
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                        "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.",
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                        "text": "The humble person receives praise the way a clean window takes the light of the sun. The truer and more intense the light is, the less you see of the glass.",
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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": "“I have my own way to walk and for some reason or other Zen is right in the middle of it wherever I go. So there it is, with all its beautiful purposelessness, and it has become very familiar to me though I do not know \"what it is.\" Or even if it is an \"it.\" Not to be foolish and multiply words, I'll say simply that it seems to me that Zen is the very atmosphere of the Gospels, and the Gospels are bursting with it. It is the proper climate for any monk, no matter what kind of monk he may be. If I could not breathe Zen I would probably die of spiritual asphyxiation.”",
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                        "text": "Very well, then: why are you attached to any one book, or to the words and ways of one saint when he himself tells you to let them go and walk in simplicity? To hang on to him as if to make a method of him is to contradict him and to go in the opposite direction to the one in which he would have you travel.",
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                        "text": "Things that are good are good, and if one is responding to that goodness one is in contact with a truth from which one is getting something. . . . The truth of the sunshine, the truth of the rain, the truth of the fresh air, the truth of the wind in the trees. . . and if we allow ourselves to be benefited by the forms of truth that are readily accessible to us instead of rejecting them as \"merely natural,\" we will be in a better position to profit by higher forms of truth when they come our way.",
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                        "text": "Then it was as if I suddenly saw the secret beauty of their hearts, the depths of their hearts where neither sin nor desire nor self-knowledge can reach, the core of their reality, the person that each one is in God's eyes. If only they could see themselves as they really are. If only we could see each other that way all the time, there would be no more war, no more hatred, no more cruelty, no more greed . . . I suppose the big problem would be that we would fall down and worship each other.",
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                        "text": "I have the immense joy of being man, a member of a race in which God Himself became incarnate. As if the sorrows and stupidities of the human condition could overwhelm me, now that I realize what we all are. And if only everybody could realize this! But it cannot be explained. There is no way of telling people that they are all walking around shining like the sun.",
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                        "text": "The land which thou goest to possess is not like the land of Egypt from whence thou camest out... For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor your ways my ways, saith the Lord...Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near...Why do you spend money for that which is not bread and your labor for that which doth not satisfy you?",
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                        "text": "You must realize that it is the ordinary way of God's dealings with us that our ideas do not work out speedily and efficiently as we would like them to. The reason for this is not only the loving wisdom of God, but also the fact that our acts have to fit into a great complex pattern that we cannot possibly understand. I have learned over the years that Providence is always a whole lot wiser than any of us, and that there are always not only good reasons, but the very best reasons for the delays and blocks that often seem to us so frustrating and absurd.",
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