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Thomas Merton

Explore inspiring quotes by Thomas Merton, a remarkable figure whose words continue to inspire and motivate people around the world.

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god

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time

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life

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peace

3 quotes

love

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truth

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good

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happiness

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Featured Quotes by Thomas Merton

Some of the most memorable quotes from this author

"Love is our true destiny. We do not find the meaning of life by ourselves alone - we find it with another."

— Thomas Mertonalone

"Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time."

— Thomas Mertonart

"Just remaining quietly in the presence of God, listening to Him, being attentive to Him, requires a lot of courage and know-how."

— Thomas Mertoncourage

"Death is someone you see very clearly with eyes in the center of your heart: eyes that see not by reacting to light, but by reacting to a kind of a chill from within the marrow of your own life."

— Thomas Mertondeath

"Solitude is not something you must hope for in the future. Rather, it is a deepening of the present, and unless you look for it in the present you will never find it."

— Thomas Mertonfuture

"By reading the scriptures I am so renewed that all nature seems renewed around me and with me. The sky seems to be a pure, a cooler blue, the trees a deeper green. The whole world is charged with the glory of God and I feel fire and music under my feet."

— Thomas Mertongod

All Quotes by Thomas Merton

Browse all quotes from this author

"Love is our true destiny. We do not find the meaning of life by ourselves alone - we find it with another."

-Thomas Merton

aloneView Quote

"Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time."

-Thomas Merton

"Just remaining quietly in the presence of God, listening to Him, being attentive to Him, requires a lot of courage and know-how."

-Thomas Merton

courageView Quote

"Death is someone you see very clearly with eyes in the center of your heart: eyes that see not by reacting to light, but by reacting to a kind of a chill from within the marrow of your own life."

-Thomas Merton

deathView Quote

"Solitude is not something you must hope for in the future. Rather, it is a deepening of the present, and unless you look for it in the present you will never find it."

-Thomas Merton

futureView Quote

"By reading the scriptures I am so renewed that all nature seems renewed around me and with me. The sky seems to be a pure, a cooler blue, the trees a deeper green. The whole world is charged with the glory of God and I feel fire and music under my feet."

-Thomas Merton

"We are not at peace with others because we are not at peace with ourselves, and we are not at peace with ourselves because we are not at peace with God."

-Thomas Merton

"The first step toward finding God, Who is Truth, is to discover the truth about myself: and if I have been in error, this first step to truth is the discovery of my error."

-Thomas Merton

"Just remaining quietly in the presence of God, listening to Him, being attentive to Him, requires a lot of courage and know-how."

-Thomas Merton

"The very contradictions in my life are in some ways signs of God's mercy to me."

-Thomas Merton

"Love seeks one thing only: the good of the one loved. It leaves all the other secondary effects to take care of themselves. Love, therefore, is its own reward."

-Thomas Merton

"Be good, keep your feet dry, your eyes open, your heart at peace and your soul in the joy of Christ."

-Thomas Merton

"Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance, order, rhythm and harmony."

-Thomas Merton

happinessView Quote

"When ambition ends, happiness begins."

-Thomas Merton

happinessView Quote

"If you want to study the social and political history of modern nations, study hell."

-Thomas Merton

historyView Quote

"Solitude is not something you must hope for in the future. Rather, it is a deepening of the present, and unless you look for it in the present you will never find it."

-Thomas Merton

"We are so obsessed with doing that we have no time and no imagination left for being. As a result, men are valued not for what they are but for what they do or what they have - for their usefulness."

-Thomas Merton

imaginationView Quote

"Every moment and every event of every man's life on earth plants something in his soul."

-Thomas Merton

inspirationalView Quote

"The least of the work of learning is done in the classroom."

-Thomas Merton

learningView Quote

"Every moment and every event of every man's life on earth plants something in his soul."

-Thomas Merton

"Love is our true destiny. We do not find the meaning of life by ourselves alone - we find it with another."

-Thomas Merton

"A life is either all spiritual or not spiritual at all. No man can serve two masters. Your life is shaped by the end you live for. You are made in the image of what you desire."

-Thomas Merton

"In the last analysis, the individual person is responsible for living his own life and for 'finding himself.' If he persists in shifting his responsibility to somebody else, he fails to find out the meaning of his own existence."

-Thomas Merton

"Love is our true destiny. We do not find the meaning of life by ourselves alone - we find it with another."

-Thomas Merton

"The beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves, and not to twist them to fit our own image. Otherwise we love only the reflection of ourselves we find in them."

-Thomas Merton

"Love seeks one thing only: the good of the one loved. It leaves all the other secondary effects to take care of themselves. Love, therefore, is its own reward."

-Thomas Merton

"We are so obsessed with doing that we have no time and no imagination left for being. As a result, men are valued not for what they are but for what they do or what they have - for their usefulness."

-Thomas Merton

"By reading the scriptures I am so renewed that all nature seems renewed around me and with me. The sky seems to be a pure, a cooler blue, the trees a deeper green. The whole world is charged with the glory of God and I feel fire and music under my feet."

-Thomas Merton

musicView Quote

"By reading the scriptures I am so renewed that all nature seems renewed around me and with me. The sky seems to be a pure, a cooler blue, the trees a deeper green. The whole world is charged with the glory of God and I feel fire and music under my feet."

-Thomas Merton

natureView Quote

"We are not at peace with others because we are not at peace with ourselves, and we are not at peace with ourselves because we are not at peace with God."

-Thomas Merton

peaceView Quote

"Peace demands the most heroic labor and the most difficult sacrifice. It demands greater heroism than war. It demands greater fidelity to the truth and a much more perfect purity of conscience."

-Thomas Merton

peaceView Quote

"Be good, keep your feet dry, your eyes open, your heart at peace and your soul in the joy of Christ."

-Thomas Merton

peaceView Quote

"Perhaps I am stronger than I think."

-Thomas Merton

strengthView Quote

"Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time."

-Thomas Merton

"We are so obsessed with doing that we have no time and no imagination left for being. As a result, men are valued not for what they are but for what they do or what they have - for their usefulness."

-Thomas Merton

"We have what we seek, it is there all the time, and if we give it time, it will make itself known to us."

-Thomas Merton

"October is a fine and dangerous season in America. a wonderful time to begin anything at all. You go to college, and every course in the catalogue looks wonderful."

-Thomas Merton

"Peace demands the most heroic labor and the most difficult sacrifice. It demands greater heroism than war. It demands greater fidelity to the truth and a much more perfect purity of conscience."

-Thomas Merton

truthView Quote

"The first step toward finding God, Who is Truth, is to discover the truth about myself: and if I have been in error, this first step to truth is the discovery of my error."

-Thomas Merton

truthView Quote

"Peace demands the most heroic labor and the most difficult sacrifice. It demands greater heroism than war. It demands greater fidelity to the truth and a much more perfect purity of conscience."

-Thomas Merton

"The least of the work of learning is done in the classroom."

-Thomas Merton

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