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From Quotes by Thomas Merton
- 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…
- 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…
- At the center of our being is a point of nothingness which is untouched by illusion, a point of pure truth, a point or spark…
- Good moral actions are not enough. Everything in us, from the very depths, must be cleansed and reordered...
- This is the greatest stumbling block in our spiritual discipline, which, in actuality, consists not in getting rid of the self but in realizing the…
- There is in all visible things an invisible fecundity, a dimmed light, a meek namelessness, a hidden wholeness. This mysterious unity and integrity is wisdom,…
- Thinking prevents the unconscious from speaking.
- There is in us an instinct for newness, for renewal, for a liberation of creative power. We seek to awaken in ourselves a force which…
- My own personal task is not simply that of poet and writer (still less commentator, pseudo-prophet); it is basically to praise God out of an…
- 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…
- If we live with possibilities we are exiles from the present which is given us by God to be our own, homeless and displaced in…
- For now, oh my God, it is to You alone that I can talk, because nobody else will understand. I cannot bring any other man…
- It is not merely our own desire but the desire of Christ in His Spirit that drives us to grow in love. Those who seldom…
- The true inner self must be drawn up like a jewel from the bottom of the sea, rescued from confusion, from indistinction, from immersion in…
- We know when we are following our vocation when our soul is set free from preoccupation with itself and is able to seek God and…
- Nonviolence seeks to ‘win’ not by destroying or even by humiliating the adversary, but by convincing [the adversary] that there is a higher and more…
- All men who live only according to their five senses, and seek nothing beyond the gratification of their natural appetites for pleasure and reputation and…
- Contemplation is life itself, fully awake, fully active, and fully aware that it is alive. It is spiritual wonder. It is spontaneous awe at the…
- It is when we love the other, the enemy, that we obtain from God the key to an understanding of who He is, and who…
- The whole world has risen in Christ... If God is 'all in all,' then everything is in fact paradise, because it is filled with the…
- To be risen with Christ means not only that one has a choice and that one may live by a higher law - the law…
- 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…
- To desire Him to be merciful to us is to acknowledge Him as God. To seek His pity when we deserve no pity is to…
- For language to have meaning, there must be intervals of silence somewhere, to divide word from word and utterance from utterance. He who retires into…
- What does it mean to know and experience my own “nothingness?” It is not enough to turn away in disgust from my illusions and faults…
More From Quotes
- Total loyalty is possible only when fidelity is emptied of all concrete content, from which changes of mind might naturally arise. — Hannah Arendt
- By its very nature the beautiful is isolated from everything else. From beauty no road leads to reality. — Hannah Arendt
- No cause is left but the most ancient of all, the one, in fact, that from the beginning of our history has… — Hannah Arendt
- Man cannot be free if he does not know that he is subject to necessity, because his freedom is always won in… — Hannah Arendt
- Aside from a handful of guys boxing is missing the good trainers, that's why our sport is so in the air now… — Alexis Arguello
- From heresy, frenzy and jealousy, good Lord deliver me. — Ludovico Ariosto
- As far as we are concerned, we are ready to leave today, tomorrow, at any time, to join the people of Haiti,… — Jean-Bertrand Aristide
- Haiti, Haiti, the further I am from you, the less I breathe. Haiti, I love you, and I will love you always.… — Jean-Bertrand Aristide
- In 1994, when I went back to Haiti from exile, we established a Commission for Truth and Justice and Reconciliation. I passed… — Jean-Bertrand Aristide
- Sometimes people who want to understand Haiti from a political perspective may be missing part of the picture. They also need to… — Jean-Bertrand Aristide
- Men of sense often learn from their enemies. It is from their foes, not their friends, that cities learn the lesson of… — Aristophanes
- At his best, man is the noblest of all animals; separated from law and justice he is the worst. — Aristotle