"The rush and pressure of modern life are……" — Thomas Merton

"The rush and pressure of modern life are a form, perhaps the most common form, of contemporary violence. To allow oneself to be carried away by a multitude of conflicting concerns, to surrender to too many demands, to commit oneself to too many projects, to want to help everyone in everything, is to succumb to violence. The frenzy of our activity neutralizes our work for peace. It destroys our own inner capacity for peace. It destroys the fruitfulness of our own work, because it kills the root of inner wisdom which makes work fruitful."

— Thomas Merton

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491 Quotes by Thomas Merton

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More Activity Quotes

This quote is filed under Activity Quotes, one of 1,646 quotes in that category. Here are a few more:

I don't think of poetry as a 'rational' activity but as an aural one. My poems usually begin with words… — Margaret Atwood
If there was the opportunity to climb a mountain, or to go ballooning, or some adventurous activity, I would always… — Roger Bannister
Snowboarding is an activity that is very popular with people who do not feel that regular skiing is lethal enough. — Dave Barry
To make an activity joyful, keep adding things until the activity as a whole becomes more appealing than repulsing. — Martha Beck
If you think squash is a competitive activity, try flower arranging. — Alan Bennett
The activity of a singer that sings opera is similar to that of an athlete. — Andrea Bocelli
The individual activity of one man with backbone will do more than a thousand men with a mere wishbone. — William J. H. Boetcker
Humor is by far the most significant activity of the human brain. — Edward de Bono
Reading is an activity subsequent to writing: more resigned, more civil, more intellectual. — Jorge Luis Borges
I'm just trying to spread the word and upturn the myth that actually you should be resting after cancer treatment.… — Jo Brand
Dissent is the native activity of the scientist, and it has got him into a good deal of trouble in… — Jacob Bronowski
Where I grew up, in Des Moines, Iowa, there is hardly any downtown economic activity now. Everybody shops in malls… — Bill Bryson

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