...love triumphs, at least in this life, not by eliminating evil once for all, but by resisting and overcoming it anew every… — 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
My God, I pray better to you by breathing and walking than by talking, just as in choir I sing best when… — Thomas Merton Breathing Copy Share Image
On Pride: This sickness is most dangerous when it succeeds in looking like humility. When a proud man thinks he is humble… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
“For although he is right with us and in and out of us and all through us, we have to go on… — Thomas Merton Journey Copy Share Image
Be human in this most inhuman of ages; guard the image of man for it is the image of God. — Thomas Merton Age Copy Share Image
Everybody has an instinctive desire to do good things and avoid evil. But that desire is sterile as long as we have… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
There is in all visible things an invisible fecundity, a dimmed light, a meek namelessness, a hidden wholeness. — Thomas Merton Inspirational Copy Share Image
For the sinful self is not my real self, it is not the self YOU have wanted for me, only the self… — Thomas Merton Father Copy Share Image
What can we gain by sailing to the moon if we are not able to cross the abyss that separates us from… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
We do not pray for the sake of praying, but for the sake of being heard. We do not pray in order… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
Do not be too quick to assume your enemy is a savage just because he is your enemy. Perhaps he is your… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
Keeping a journal has taught me that there is not so much new in your life as you sometimes think. When you… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
Our technological society has no longer any place in it for wisdom that seeks truth for its own sake, that seeks the… — Thomas Merton Action Copy Share Image
“We are not meant to resolve all contradictions but to live with them and rise above them and see them in the… — Thomas Merton Contradictions Copy Share Image
The more you try to avoid suffering, the more you suffer, because smaller and more insignificant things begin to torture you, in… — Thomas Merton Being hurt Copy Share Image
“I once thought that would be the consummation of all joy—to be united by a bond of love—to be lost in His… — Thomas Merton Christ love Copy Share Image
To some men peace merely means the liberty to exploit other people without fear of retaliation or interference. To others peace means… — Thomas Merton Absence Copy Share Image
“Technology has its own ethic of expediency and efficiency. What can be done efficiently must be done in the most efficient way—even… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
“Hence the aim of meditation, in the context of Christian faith, is not to arrive at an objective and apparently 'scientific' knowledge… — Thomas Merton Christ Copy Share Image
I have the immense joy of being man, a member of a race in which God Himself became incarnate. As if the… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
When society is made up of men who know no interior solitude it can no longer be held together by love: and… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
The friends of Job appear on the scene as advisers and "consolers," offering Job the fruits of their moral scientia. But when… — 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,… — Thomas Merton Contemplation Copy Share Image
My God, I pray better to you by breathing. I pray better to you by walking than by talking. — Thomas Merton Breathing Copy Share Image
“Where self-interest is the bond, The friendship is dissolved When calamity comes. Where Tao is the bond, Friendship is made perfect By… — Thomas Merton Friend Copy Share Image
We cannot love ourselves unless we love others, and we cannot love others unless we love ourselves. But a selfish love of… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
For the ones who are called saints by human opinion on earth may very well be devils, and their light may very… — Thomas Merton Darkness Copy Share Image
“The beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves and not to twist them to fit our own… — Thomas Merton Beginning Copy Share Image
A humble man is not afraid of failure. In fact, he is not afraid of anything, even himself, since perfect humility implies… — Thomas Merton Afraid of failure Copy Share Image
Spread abroad the name of Jesus in humility and with a meek heart; show him your feebleness, and he will become your… — Thomas Merton Heart Copy Share Image
We have what we seek, it is there all the time, and if we give it time, it will make itself known… — Thomas Merton Copy Share Image
We refuse love, and reject society, in so far as it seems, in our own perverse imagination, to imply some obscure kind… — Thomas Merton Humiliation Copy Share Image
“Frenzy destroys our inner capacity for peace. It destroys the fruitfulness of our work, because it kills the root of inner wisdom… — Thomas Merton Balanced life Copy Share Image
If Zen has any preference it is for glass that is plain, has no color, and is "just glass." — Thomas Merton Color Copy Share Image
October is a fine and dangerous season in America. a wonderful time to begin anything at all. You go to college, and… — Thomas Merton America Copy Share Image
“The beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves, and not to twist our own image. Otherwise we… — Thomas Merton Beginning Copy Share Image
Love, in fact, is the spiritual life; and without it, all other exercises of the spirit are emptied of content. — Thomas Merton Exercise Copy Share Image
Finally I am coming to the conclusion that my highest ambition is to be what I already I am. — Thomas Merton Ambition Copy Share Image
“Possibly, what is required of some of us, and chiefly of me, is a solitary and personal response in the form of… — Thomas Merton Silence Copy Share Image
