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. Thomas Merton More Quotes by Thomas Merton More Quotes From 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. It is pure affection, and filled with reverance for the solitude of others. Solitude and silence teach me to love my brothers for what they are, not for what they say. Thomas Merton single silence brother To Serve the God of Love one must be free, one must face the terrible responsibility of the decision to love in spite of all unworthiness whether in oneself or in one's neighbor. Thomas Merton decision responsibility faces Yet it is in this loneliness that the deepest activities begin. It is here that you discover act without motion, labor that is profound repose, vision in obscurity, and, beyond all desire, a fulfillment whose limits extend to infinity. Thomas Merton being-alone loneliness profound To be ordinary is not a choice: It is the usual freedom of men without visions. Thomas Merton vision choices men Good moral actions are not enough. Everything in us, from the very depths, must be cleansed and reordered. Thomas Merton depth spiritual action I can depend less and less on my own power and sense of direction...It is so strange to advance backwards and get where you are going in a totally unexpected way Thomas Merton unexpected strange way 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 humility humble people If you yourself are at peace, then there is at least some peace in the world. Thomas Merton ifs peace world The closer we are to God, the closer we are to those who are close to him. Thomas Merton We cannot find Him unless we know we need Him. We forget this need when we take a self-sufficient pleasure in our own good works. The poor and helpless are the first to find Him, Who came to seek and to save that which was lost. Thomas Merton self needs firsts It is both dangerous and easy to hate man as he is because he is not what he ought to be. If we do not first respect what he is we will never suffer him to become what he ought to be: in our impatience we do away with him altogether. Thomas Merton hate suffering men Solitude and silence teach me to love my brothers for what they are, not for what they say. Thomas Merton silence brother relationship The degradation of the sense of symbol in modern society is one of its many signs of spiritual decay. Thomas Merton degradation society spiritual It is not only our hatred of others that is dangerous but also and above all our hatred of ourselves: particularly that hatred of ourselves which is too deep and too powerful to be consciously faced. For it is this which makes us see our own evil in others and unable to see it in ourselves. Thomas Merton powerful hatred evil How deluded we sometimes are by the clear notions we get out of books. They make us think that we really understand things of which we have no practical knowledge at all. Thomas Merton wisdom book thinking A purely mental life may be destructive if it leads us to substitute thought for life and ideas for actions. The activity proper to man is purely mental because man is not just a disembodied mind. Our destiny is to live out what we think, because unless we live what we know, we do not even know it. It is only by making our knowledge part of ourselves, through action, that we enter into the reality that is signified by our concepts. Thomas Merton destiny men reality Let me rest in Your will and be silent. Then the light of Your joy will warm my life. Its fire will burn in my heart and shine for Your glory. This is what I live for. Amen, amen. Thomas Merton light fire heart In the natural order no matter what ideals may be theoretically possible, most people more or less live for themselves and for their own interests and pleasures or for those of their own family or group, and therefore they are constantly interfering with one another's aims, and hurting one another and injuring one another, whether they mean it or not. Thomas Merton hurt order mean The truth never becomes clear as long as we assume that each one of us, individually, is the center of the universe. Thomas Merton clear assuming long It is true to say that for me sanctity consists in being myself and for you sanctity consists of being yourself and that, in the last analysis, your sanctity will never be mine and mine will never be yours, except in the communism of charity and grace. For me to be a saint means to be myself. Therefore the problem of sanctity and salvation is in fact the problem of finding out who I am and of discovering my true self. Thomas Merton being-yourself who-i-am mean
