Thomas Merton Quotes

501 quotes in 5368 categories

• Violence is essentially wordless. and it can begin only where thought and rational communication have broken down.
• We become contemplatives when God discovers Himself in us.
• Meditation is one of the ways in which the spiritual man keeps himself awake.
• If there is no silence beyond and within the many words of doctrine, there is no religion, only a religious ideology. For religion goes beyond…
• I suppose what makes me most glad is that we all recognize each other in this metaphysical space of silence and happening, and get some…
• Love is its own reward....
• Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance, order, rhythm and harmony.
• Do not be too quick to condemn the man who no longer believes in God: for it is perhaps your own coldness and avarice and…
• If you yourself are at peace, then there is at least some peace in the world.
• Our real journey in life is interior; It is a matter of growth, deepening, and of an ever greater surrender to the creative action of…
• Do not look for rest in any pleasure, because you were not created for pleasure: you were created for joy. And if you do not…
• Let me rest in Your will and be silent. Then the light of Your joy will warm my life. Its fire will burn in my…
• Silence has many dimensions. It can be a regression and an escape, a loss of self, or it can be presence, awareness, unification, self-discovery. Negative…
• Are they moved by a sense of human need for silence, for reflection, for inner seeking? So they want to get away from the noise…
• It is in deep solitude and silence that I find the gentleness with which I can truly love my brother and sister.
• We are not at peace with others because we are not at peace with ourselves, and we are not at peace with ourselves because we…
• I will not fear, for you are ever with me and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.
• We stumble and fall constantly, even when we are most enlightened.
• As long as we are on earth, the love that unites us will bring us suffering by our very contact with one another, because this…
• Let no one hope to find in contemplation an escape from conflict, from anguish or from doubt. On the contrary, the deep inexpressible certitude of…

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