Thomas Merton Quotes
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101. “What can we gain by sailing to the moon if we cannot cross the abyss that separates us from ourselves?”

— Thomas Merton

102. “When I pray for peace, I pray not only that the enemies of my own country may cease to want war, but above all that my country will cease to do the things that make war inevitable.”

— Thomas Merton

103. “If we seek paradise outside ourselves, we cannot have paradise in our hearts.”

— Thomas Merton

104. “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

105. “The spiritual life is first of all a life. It is not merely something to be known and studied, it is to be lived.”

— Thomas Merton

106. “Our real journey in life is interior.”

— Thomas Merton

107. “The true inner self must be drawn up like a jewel from the bottom of the sea, rescued from confusion, from indistinction, from immersion in the common, the nondescript, the trivial, the sordid, the evanescent.”

— Thomas Merton

108. “The God of peace is never glorified by human violence.”

— Thomas Merton

109. “It might be good to open our eyes and see.”

— Thomas Merton

110. “God, Who is everywhere, never leaves us. Yet He seems sometimes to be present, sometimes to be absent. If we do not know Him well, we do not realize that He may be more present to us when He is absent than when He is present.”

— Thomas Merton

111. “For if I am to love truly and freely, I must be able to give something that is truly my own to another. If my heart does not first belong to me, how can I give it to another?”

— Thomas Merton

112. “The end of the world will be legal.”

— Thomas Merton

113. “When we are strong, we are always much greater than the things that happen to us.”

— Thomas Merton

114. “Nevertheless, the liturgy of Ash Wednesday is not focussed on the sinfulness of the penitent but on the mercy of God. The question of sinfulness is raised precisely because this is a day of mercy, and the just do not need a savior.”

— Thomas Merton

115. “Music and art and poetry attune the soul to God.”

— Thomas Merton

116. “We are already ONE. We just think we are separate.”

— Thomas Merton

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

— Thomas Merton

118. “Finally I am coming to the conclusion that my highest ambition is to be what I already I am.”

— Thomas Merton

119. “Every other man is a piece of myself, for I am a part and a member of mankind.”

— Thomas Merton

120. “To be alone by being part of the universe-fitting in completely to an environment of woods and silence and peace. Everything you do becomes a unity and a prayer. Unity within and without.”

— Thomas Merton

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

— Thomas Merton

122. “Saints are what they are not because their sanctity makes them admirable to others, but because the gift of sainthood makes it possible for them to admire everyone else.”

— Thomas Merton

123. “Teach me to go to the country beyond words and beyond names.”

— Thomas Merton

124. “To be ordinary is not a choice: It is the usual freedom of men without visions.”

— Thomas Merton

125. “We cannot love ourselves unless we love others, and we cannot love others unless we love ourselves. But a selfish love of ourselves makes us incapable of loving others.”

— Thomas Merton

126. “If you yourself are at peace, then there is at least some peace in the world.”

— Thomas Merton

127. “To consider persons and events and situations only in the light of their effect upon myself is to live on the doorstep of hell.”

— Thomas Merton

128. “This is the greatest stumbling block in our spiritual discipline, which, in actuality, consists not in getting rid of the self but in realizing the fact that there is no such existence from the first.”

— Thomas Merton

129. “Conscience is the light by which we interpret the will of God in our own lives.”

— Thomas Merton

130. “Meditation is one of the ways in which the spiritual man keeps himself awake.”

— Thomas Merton

131. “You cannot be a man of faith unless you know how to doubt.”

— Thomas Merton

132. “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

133. “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

134. “Happiness that is sought for ourselves alone can never be found.”

— Thomas Merton

135. “The only trouble is that in the spiritual life there are no tricks and no shortcuts. Those who imagine that they can discover spiritual gimmicks and put them to work for themselves usually ignore God’s will and his grace.”

— Thomas Merton

136. “We are not converted only once in our lives but many times and this endless series of conversions and inner revolutions leads to our transformation.”

— Thomas Merton

137. “Do not be too quick to condemn the man who no longer believes in God: for it is perhaps your own coldness and avarice and mediocrity and materialism and selfishness that have chilled his faith.”

— Thomas Merton

138. “Before we can become who we really are, we must become conscious of the fact that the person who we think we are, here and now, is at best an impostor and a stranger.”

— Thomas Merton

139. “The solution of the problem of life is life itself. Life is not attained by reason and analysis but first of all by living.”

— Thomas Merton

140. “In humility is the greatest freedom. As long as you have to defend the imaginary self that you think is important, you lose your peace of heart.”

— Thomas Merton

141. “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

142. “There were only a few shepherds at the first Bethlehem. The ox and the donkey understood more of the first Christmas than the high priests in Jerusalem. And it is the same today.”

— Thomas Merton

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

— Thomas Merton

144. “You pray best when the mirror of your soul is empty of every image except the Image of the Invisible Father.”

— Thomas Merton

145. “To be unknown to God is altogether too much privacy.”

— Thomas Merton

146. “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

147. “The goal of fasting is inner unity.”

— Thomas Merton

148. “The fact remains that we are invited to forget ourselves on purpose, cast our awful solemnity to the wind, and join in the general Dance.”

— Thomas Merton

149. “The center of our being is a point of nothingness which is untouched by sin and by illusion, a point of pure truth.”

— Thomas Merton

150. “Today the artist has inherited the combined functions of hermit, pilgrim, prophet, priest, shaman, sorcerer, soothsayer, alchemist.”

— Thomas Merton