Quotes of Thomas Merton - somelinesforyou

“ The truth that many people never understand, until it is too late, is that 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. ”

- Thomas Merton

“ Every breath we draw is a gift of God’s love; every moment of existence is a grace. ”

- Thomas Merton

“ Perhaps I am stronger than I think. ”

- Thomas Merton

“ Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance and order and rhythm and harmony. ”

- Thomas Merton

“ If a man is to live, he must be all alive, body, soul, mind, heart, spirit. ”

- Thomas Merton

“ The whole of life is to spiritualize our activities by humility and faith, to silence our nature by charity. ”

- Thomas Merton

“ There is greater comfort in the substance of silence than in the answer to a question. ”

- Thomas Merton

“ Music is pleasing not only because of the sound but because of the silence that is in it: without the alternation of sound and silence there would be no rhythm. ”

- Thomas Merton

“ Solitude is a way to defend the spirit against the murderous din of our materialism. ”

- Thomas Merton

“ When society is made up of men who know no interior solitude it can no longer be held together by love: and consequently it is held together by a violent and abusive authority. ”

- Thomas Merton

“ What a thing it is to sit absolutely alone in the forest at night. ”

- Thomas Merton

“ Pride makes us artificial and humility makes us real. ”

- Thomas Merton

“ Perhaps I am stronger than I think. ”

- Thomas Merton

“ I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone. ”

- Thomas Merton

“ Pride makes us artificial and humility makes us real. ”

- Thomas Merton

“ Humility is the surest sign of strength. ”

- Thomas Merton

“ Even when it speaks, humility listens. ”

- Thomas Merton

“ In perfect humility all selfishness disappears and your soul no longer lives for itself or in itself for God: and it is lost and submerged in Him and transformed into Him. ”

- Thomas Merton

“ Humble people can do great things with uncommon perfection because they are no longer concerned about their own interests and their own reputation, and therefore they no longer need to waste their efforts in defending them. ”

- Thomas Merton

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

- Thomas Merton

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

- Thomas Merton

“ What you need is to recognize the possibilities and challenges offered by the present moment, and to embrace them with courage, faith, and hope. ”

- Thomas Merton

“ True happiness is found in unselfish love, a love which increases in proportion as it is shared. ”

- Thomas Merton

“ Love is, in fact, an intensification of life, a completeness, a fullness, a wholeness of life.  ”

- Thomas Merton

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

- Thomas Merton

“ It is in deep solitude that I find the gentleness with which I can truly love my brothers. The more solitary I am the more affection I have for them… Solitude and silence teach me to love my brothers for what they are, not for what they say. ”

- Thomas Merton

“ The beginning of love is the will to let those we love be perfectly themselves, the resolution not to twist them to fit our own image. If in loving them we do not love what they are, but only their potential likeness to ourselves, then we do not love them: we only love the reflection of ourselves we find in them ”

- 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

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

- Thomas Merton

“ If you want to identify me, ask me not where I live, or what I like to eat, or how I comb my hair, but ask me what I am living for, in detail, ask me what I think is keeping me from living fully for the thing I want to live for. ”

- Thomas Merton
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