--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: As long as we are on earth, the love that…" description: "\"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 love is the resetting of..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a28/thomas-merton-231_anguish_as-long-as-we-are-on-earth-the-love-that_254279.jpg" --- # As long as we are on earth, the love that unites us will… ![“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 love is the resetting of a body of broken bones. Even saints cannot live with saints on this earth without some anguish. There are two things which men can do about the…” quote by Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a28/thomas-merton-231_anguish_as-long-as-we-are-on-earth-the-love-that_254279.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a28/thomas-merton-231_anguish_as-long-as-we-are-on-earth-the-love-that_254279.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a28/thomas-merton-231_anguish_as-long-as-we-are-on-earth-the-love-that_254279.jpg) > “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 love is the resetting of a body of broken bones. Even saints cannot live with saints on this earth without some anguish. There are two things which men can do about the pain of disunion with other men. They can love or they can hate.” [Thomas Merton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Human love inevitably causes pain because it exposes our vulnerabilities and brokenness, leading to both unity and suffering. **In simple terms:** Love brings both connection and pain. Key Takeaway Accept love’s dual nature. Themes love pain humanity spirituality Mood reflective melancholic Type philosophical spiritual When to use this quote - relationships - community building - spiritual practice - conflict resolution Key Concepts existentialism interpersonal dynamics theology Questions to Reflect On - How do you balance love’s joy and its pain? - Can suffering be a path to deeper connection? A Different Perspective Even love can cause deep hurt, making harmony hard. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Anguish](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/anguish/) [Body](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/body/) [Earth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/earth/) [Hate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hate/) [Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/love/) [Meditation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/meditation/) [Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men/) [Nature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature/) [Pain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pain/) [Saint](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/saint/) [Suffering](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/suffering/) ## Related quotes > [“Love unites and hate disintegrates.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mohit-k-misra/love-unites-and-hate-disintegrates/) Mohit K. Misra > [Love unites lives.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/m-k-stalin/love-unites-lives/) [M. K. Stalin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/m-k-stalin/) > [“We like to say that love is what unites us; however it's fear that we all share.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lynn-weingarten/we-like-to-say-that-love-is-what-unites-us-however-it-s-fear-that-we/) [Lynn Weingarten](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lynn-weingarten/) > [Disunion and civil war are at hand; and yet I fear disunion and war less than compromise. We can recover from them. The free…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rutherford-b-hayes/disunion-and-civil-war-are-at-hand-and-yet-i-fear-disunion-and-war/) [Rutherford B. Hayes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rutherford-b-hayes/) > [The natural state of this universe is attraction; and that is surely followed by an ultimate disunion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/swami-vivekananda/the-natural-state-of-this-universe-is-attraction-and-that-is-surely/) [Swami Vivekananda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/swami-vivekananda/) > [Disunion and civil war are at hand; and yet I fear disunion and war less than compromise. We can recover from them. The free…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rutherford-b-hayes/disunion-and-civil-war-are-at-hand-and-yet-i-fear-disunion-and-war-2/) [Rutherford B. Hayes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rutherford-b-hayes/) > [Their object is disunion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-jackson/their-object-is-disunion/) [Andrew Jackson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-jackson/) > [Disunion by force is treason.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-jackson/disunion-by-force-is-treason/) [Andrew Jackson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-jackson/) > [The irrepressible conflict propounded by abolitionism has produced now its legitimate fruits - disunion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-irrepressible-conflict-propounded-by-abolitionism-has-produced/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“They felt that everything was fleeting, that everything wore out, that everything that was not dead would die, and that even the illusory ties…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henri-barbusse/they-felt-that-everything-was-fleeting-that-everything-wore-out-that/) [Henri Barbusse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henri-barbusse/) > [“I know that in Love there can be no separation, for Love unites. Love sustains and protects Its own. I”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-holmes/i-know-that-in-love-there-can-be-no-separation-for-love-unites-love/) [Ernest Holmes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-holmes/) > [“Love is stronger than evil. Love is the answer. Love is all there is. Love conquers. Love heals. Love unites. All you need is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alyson-noel/love-is-stronger-than-evil-love-is-the-answer-love-is-all-there-is/) [Alyson Noel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alyson-noel/) > [Maybe it's not love that unites the world, but rather it's broken hearts.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-bowick/maybe-it-s-not-love-that-unites-the-world-but-rather-it-s-broken/) [David Bowick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-bowick/) > [Faith, like love, unites; opinion, like hate, separates.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-lancaster-spalding/faith-like-love-unites-opinion-like-hate-separates/) [John Lancaster Spalding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-lancaster-spalding/) > [Every time a man unburdens his heart to a stranger he reaffirms the love that unites humanity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/germaine-greer/every-time-a-man-unburdens-his-heart-to-a-stranger-he-reaffirms-the/) [Germaine Greer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/germaine-greer/) ## 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/) [Explore all 851 Thomas Merton quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-merton/) ## More Anguish quotes > [“He put his forehead against hers. “Alannah, my heart is yours.” He said softly. “And yet, I must hand it over to someone else…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/b-c-morin/he-put-his-forehead-against-hers-alannah-my-heart-is-yours-he-said/) [B.C. Morin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/b-c-morin/) > [Knowledge gives a wider choice and more anguish.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-florman/knowledge-gives-a-wider-choice-and-more-anguish/) [Samuel Florman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-florman/) > [pg.9 "In my heart there's a peaceful anguish, and my calm is made of resignation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/pg-9-in-my-heart-there-s-a-peaceful-anguish-and-my-calm-is-made-of/) [Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/) > [Memory, with its fugitive adjustments, is the merciful veil to the grim enactments of the first law. It hides the anguish in the human…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stacy-aumonier/memory-with-its-fugitive-adjustments-is-the-merciful-veil-to-the-grim/) [Stacy Aumonier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stacy-aumonier/) > [Our religion is itself profoundly sad - a religion of universal anguish, and one which, because of its very catholicity, grants full liberty to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-baudelaire/our-religion-is-itself-profoundly-sad-a-religion-of-universal-anguish/) [Charles Baudelaire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-baudelaire/) > [Being human, we would expel from our lives physical pain and mental anguish and assure ourselves of continual ease and comfort, but if we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/spencer-w-kimball/being-human-we-would-expel-from-our-lives-physical-pain-and-mental/) [Spencer W. Kimball](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/spencer-w-kimball/) > [The intellectuals' chief cause of anguish are one another's works. Jacques Barzun, 1959 all ignorance toboggans into know and trudges up to ignorance again.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-e-cummings/the-intellectuals-chief-cause-of-anguish-are-one-another-s-works/) [e. e. cummings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-e-cummings/) > [I saw my parents as gods whose every wish must be obeyed or I would suffer the penalty of anguish and guilt.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/natalie-wood/i-saw-my-parents-as-gods-whose-every-wish-must-be-obeyed-or-i-would/) [Natalie Wood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/natalie-wood/) > [Every last cast is actually a first cast. The first cast and first chance to catch the next fish. The next time you anguish…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tony-bishop/every-last-cast-is-actually-a-first-cast-the-first-cast-and-first/) [Tony Bishop](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tony-bishop/) > [Journalism is an extraordinary and terrible privilege. Not by chance, if you are aware of it, does it consume you with a hundred feelings…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oriana-fallaci/journalism-is-an-extraordinary-and-terrible-privilege-not-by-chance/) [Oriana Fallaci](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oriana-fallaci/) > [I have discovered in my long life that there are many words and phrases which have more power than any spell of magick. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-gemmell/i-have-discovered-in-my-long-life-that-there-are-many-words-and/) [David Gemmell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-gemmell/) > [One realizes that human relationships are the tragic necessity of human life; that they can never be wholly satisfactory, that every ego is half…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willa-cather/one-realizes-that-human-relationships-are-the-tragic-necessity-of/) [Willa Cather](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willa-cather/) > [I have designed my style pantomimes as white ink drawings on black backgrounds, so that man's destiny appears as a thread lost in an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-marceau/i-have-designed-my-style-pantomimes-as-white-ink-drawings-on-black/) [Marcel Marceau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-marceau/) > [So silently, peacefully, without hurry, without any tension, without any anguish, move into yourself instantly. It is urgent. Unless meditation becomes urgent to you,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rajneesh/so-silently-peacefully-without-hurry-without-any-tension-without-any/) [Rajneesh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rajneesh/) > [It breaks my heart to think about a family weeping over the loss of a loved one. I understand the anguish that some feel…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-p-bush/it-breaks-my-heart-to-think-about-a-family-weeping-over-the-loss-of-a/) [George P. Bush](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-p-bush/) [Browse all 570 Anguish quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/anguish/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "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 love is the resetting of a body of broken bones. Even saints cannot live with saints on this earth without some anguish. 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