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Thomas Merton Quotes

Fear narrows the little entrance of our heart. It shrinks up our capacity to love. It freezes up our power to give ourselves Picture Quote #1

How do you expect to arrive at the end of your own journey if you take the road to another man’s city? Picture Quote #1

We have to have a deep, patient compassion for the fears of others and irrational mania of those who hate or condemn us Picture Quote #1

And that is why the man who wants to see clearly, before he will believe, never starts on the journey Picture Quote #1

The man who lives in division is living in death. He cannot find himself because he is lost; he has ceased to be a reality. The person he believes himself to be is a bad dream Picture Quote #1

Sincerity must be bought at a price: the humility to recognize our innumerable errors, and fidelity in tirelessly setting them right Picture Quote #1

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One of the strange laws of the contemplative life is that in it you do not sit down and solve problems: you bear with them until they somehow solve themselves. Or until life solves them for you Picture Quote #1

There is not true intimacy between souls who do not know how to respect one another’s solitude Picture Quote #1

Art is not an end in itself. It introduces the soul into a higher spiritual order, which it expresses and in some sense explains Picture Quote #1

A life that is without problems may literally be more hopeless, than one that always verges on despair Picture Quote #1

We must be true inside, true to ourselves, before we can know a truth that is outside us. But we make ourselves true inside by manifesting the truth as we see it Picture Quote #1

The humble person receives praise the way a clean window takes the light of the sun. The truer and more intense the light is, the less you see of the glass Picture Quote #1

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Let us come alive to the splendor that is all around us and see the beauty in ordinary things Picture Quote #1

Our minds are like crows. They pick up everything that glitters, no matter how uncomfortable our nests get with all that metal in them Picture Quote #1

Solitude and silence teach me to love my brothers for what they are, not for what they say Picture Quote #1

Our destiny is to live out what we think, because unless we live what we know, we do not even know it Picture Quote #1

Ultimately faith is the only key to the universe. The final meaning of human existence, and the answers to the questions on which all our happiness depends cannot be found in any other way Picture Quote #1

We must slow down to a human tempo and we’ll begin to have time to listen Picture Quote #1

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How can I be sincere if I am constantly changing my mind to conform with the shadow of what I think others expect of me? Picture Quote #1

The gift of love is the gift of the power and capacity to love, and therefore, to give love with full effect is also to receive it. So love can only be kept by being given away, and it can only be given perfectly when it is also received Picture Quote #1

The monk in hiding himself from the world becomes not less than himself, not less of a person, but more of a person, more truly and perfectly himself: for his personality and individuality are perfected in their true order, the spiritual, interior order Picture Quote #1

We live in a society whose whole policy is to excite every nerve in the human body and keep it at the highest pitch of artificial tension, to strain every human desire to the limit and to create as many new desires and synthetic passions as possible, in order to cater to them with the products of our factories and printing presses and movie studios and all the rest Picture Quote #1

Memory is corrupted and ruined by a crowd of memories. If I am going to have a true memory, there are a thousand things that must first be forgotten. Memory is not fully itself when it reaches only into the past. A memory that is not alive to the present does not remember the here and now, does not remember its true identity, is not memory at all. He who remembers nothing but facts and past events, and is never brought back into the present, is a victim of amnesia Picture Quote #1

The logic of worldly success rests on a fallacy: the strange error that our perfection depends on the thoughts and opinions and applause of other men! A weird life it is, indeed, to be living always in somebody else’s imagination, as if that were the only place in which one could at last become real! Picture Quote #1

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Finally I am coming to the conclusion that my highest ambition is to be what I already am. That I will never fulfill my obligation to surpass myself unless I first accept myself, and if I accept myself fully in the right way, I will already have surpassed myself Picture Quote #1

The lights of prayer that make us imagine we are beginning to be angels are sometimes only signs that we are finally beginning to be men. We do not have a high enough opinion of our own nature. We think we are at the gates of heaven and we are only just beginning to come into our own realm as free and intelligent beings Picture Quote #1

The more you try to avoid suffering, the more you suffer, because smaller and more insignificant things begin to torture you, in proportion to your fear of being hurt. The one who does most to avoid suffering is, in the end, the one who suffers most Picture Quote #1

I just remember their kindness and goodness to me, and their peacefulness and their utter simplicity. They inspired real reverence, and I think, in a way, they were certainly saints. And they were saints in that most effective and telling way: sanctified by leading ordinary lives in a completely supernatural manner, sanctified by obscurity, by usual skills, by common tasks, by routine, but skills, tasks, routine which received a supernatural form from grace within Picture Quote #1

The soul of man, left to its own natural level, is a potentially lucid crystal left in darkness. It is perfect in its own nature, but it lacks something that it can only receive from outside and above itself. But when the light shines in it, it becomes in a manner transformed into light and seems to lose its nature in the splendor of a higher nature, the nature of the light that is in it Picture Quote #1

This act of total surrender is not merely a fantastic intellectual and mystical gamble; it is something much more serious. It is an act of love for this unseen person, who, in the very gift of love by which we surrender ourselves to his reality also makes his presence known to us Picture Quote #1

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Text Quotes

Fear narrows the little entrance of our heart. It shrinks up our capacity to love. It freezes up our power to give ourselves (Thomas Merton Quotes) How do you expect to arrive at the end of your own journey if you take the road to another man’s city? (Thomas Merton Quotes) We have to have a deep, patient compassion for the fears of others and irrational mania of those who hate or condemn us (Thomas Merton Quotes) And that is why the man who wants to see clearly, before he will believe, never starts on the journey (Thomas Merton Quotes) The man who lives in division is living in death. He cannot find himself because he is lost; he has ceased to be a reality. The person he believes himself to be is a bad dream (Thomas Merton Quotes) Sincerity must be bought at a price: the humility to recognize our innumerable errors, and fidelity in tirelessly setting them right (Thomas Merton Quotes) One of the strange laws of the contemplative life is that in it you do not sit down and solve problems: you bear with them until they somehow solve themselves. Or until life solves them for you (Thomas Merton Quotes) There is not true intimacy between souls who do not know how to respect one another’s solitude (Thomas Merton Quotes) Art is not an end in itself. It introduces the soul into a higher spiritual order, which it expresses and in some sense explains (Thomas Merton Quotes) A life that is without problems may literally be more hopeless, than one that always verges on despair (Thomas Merton Quotes) We must be true inside, true to ourselves, before we can know a truth that is outside us. But we make ourselves true inside by manifesting the truth as we see it (Thomas Merton Quotes) The humble person receives praise the way a clean window takes the light of the sun. The truer and more intense the light is, the less you see of the glass (Thomas Merton Quotes) Let us come alive to the splendor that is all around us and see the beauty in ordinary things (Thomas Merton Quotes) Our minds are like crows. They pick up everything that glitters, no matter how uncomfortable our nests get with all that metal in them (Thomas Merton Quotes) Solitude and silence teach me to love my brothers for what they are, not for what they say (Thomas Merton Quotes) Our destiny is to live out what we think, because unless we live what we know, we do not even know it (Thomas Merton Quotes) Ultimately faith is the only key to the universe. The final meaning of human existence, and the answers to the questions on which all our happiness depends cannot be found in any other way (Thomas Merton Quotes) We must slow down to a human tempo and we’ll begin to have time to listen (Thomas Merton Quotes) How can I be sincere if I am constantly changing my mind to conform with the shadow of what I think others expect of me? (Thomas Merton Quotes) The gift of love is the gift of the power and capacity to love, and therefore, to give love with full effect is also to receive it. So love can only be kept by being given away, and it can only be given perfectly when it is also received (Thomas Merton Quotes) The monk in hiding himself from the world becomes not less than himself, not less of a person, but more of a person, more truly and perfectly himself: for his personality and individuality are perfected in their true order, the spiritual, interior order (Thomas Merton Quotes) We live in a society whose whole policy is to excite every nerve in the human body and keep it at the highest pitch of artificial tension, to strain every human desire to the limit and to create as many new desires and synthetic passions as possible, in order to cater to them with the products of our factories and printing presses and movie studios and all the rest (Thomas Merton Quotes) Memory is corrupted and ruined by a crowd of memories. If I am going to have a true memory, there are a thousand things that must first be forgotten. Memory is not fully itself when it reaches only into the past. A memory that is not alive to the present does not remember the here and now, does not remember its true identity, is not memory at all. He who remembers nothing but facts and past events, and is never brought back into the present, is a victim of amnesia (Thomas Merton Quotes) The logic of worldly success rests on a fallacy: the strange error that our perfection depends on the thoughts and opinions and applause of other men! A weird life it is, indeed, to be living always in somebody else’s imagination, as if that were the only place in which one could at last become real! (Thomas Merton Quotes) Finally I am coming to the conclusion that my highest ambition is to be what I already am. That I will never fulfill my obligation to surpass myself unless I first accept myself, and if I accept myself fully in the right way, I will already have surpassed myself (Thomas Merton Quotes) The lights of prayer that make us imagine we are beginning to be angels are sometimes only signs that we are finally beginning to be men. We do not have a high enough opinion of our own nature. We think we are at the gates of heaven and we are only just beginning to come into our own realm as free and intelligent beings (Thomas Merton Quotes) The more you try to avoid suffering, the more you suffer, because smaller and more insignificant things begin to torture you, in proportion to your fear of being hurt. The one who does most to avoid suffering is, in the end, the one who suffers most (Thomas Merton Quotes) I just remember their kindness and goodness to me, and their peacefulness and their utter simplicity. They inspired real reverence, and I think, in a way, they were certainly saints. And they were saints in that most effective and telling way: sanctified by leading ordinary lives in a completely supernatural manner, sanctified by obscurity, by usual skills, by common tasks, by routine, but skills, tasks, routine which received a supernatural form from grace within (Thomas Merton Quotes) The soul of man, left to its own natural level, is a potentially lucid crystal left in darkness. It is perfect in its own nature, but it lacks something that it can only receive from outside and above itself. But when the light shines in it, it becomes in a manner transformed into light and seems to lose its nature in the splendor of a higher nature, the nature of the light that is in it (Thomas Merton Quotes) This act of total surrender is not merely a fantastic intellectual and mystical gamble; it is something much more serious. It is an act of love for this unseen person, who, in the very gift of love by which we surrender ourselves to his reality also makes his presence known to us (Thomas Merton Quotes)

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