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Thomas Merton

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Famous Thomas Merton Quotes

“The world of men has forgotten the joys of silence, the peace of solitude, which is necessary, to some extent, for the fullness of human living. Man cannot be happy for long unless he is in contact with the springs of spiritual life which are hidden in the depths of his own soul. If man is exiled constantly from his own home, locked out of his spiritual solitude, he ceases to be a true person.”

IfsMenWorldHumansPersonsLongSoulHomeSpiritualJoyPeaceSilenceSolitudeSpringDepthForgottenHappyCeaseContactSpiritual LifeLockedFullnessTrue LifeTrue Person
Author:Thomas Merton
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“My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me...you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore I will trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.”

KnowsMayIdeasSeemsFacesLostLordShadowNo IdeaLeaving MePerilLeading MeLord GodRight RoadShadow Of DeathNever Leave Me
Author:Thomas Merton
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“In order to settle down in the quiet of our own being we must learn to be detached from the results of our own activity. We must be content to live without watching ourselves live, to work with expecting immediate reward, to love without an instant satisfaction, and to exist without any special recognition. It is only when we are detached from ourselves that we can be at peace with ourselves.”

OrderResultsSpecialActivityQuietRewardsSatisfactionRecognitionSettlingInstantExpectingDetachedSettling Down
Author:Thomas Merton
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“I have my own way to walk and for some reason or other Zen is right in the middle of it wherever I go. So there it is, with all its beautiful purposelessness, and it has become very familiar to me though I do not know "what it is." Or even if it is an "it." Not to be foolish and multiply words, I'll say simply that it seems to me that Zen is the very atmosphere of the Gospels, and the Gospels are bursting with it. It is the proper climate for any monk, no matter what kind of monk he may be. If I could not breathe Zen I would probably die of spiritual asphyxiation.”

IfsKnowsWayKindMayMatterReasonSeemsBeautifulSpiritualDiesMy OwnWalksMiddleNo Matter WhatClimateBreatheFoolishFamiliarAtmosphereIf I CouldMonkBurstingPurposelessnessAsphyxiation
Book:Encounter: Thomas Merton & D.T. Suzuki
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“The psychological impotence of our enraged generation must be traced to the overwhelming accusation of insincerity which every man and woman has to confront, in the depths of his own soul, when he seeks to love merely for his own pleasure.And yet the men of our time do not love with enough courage to risk even discomfort or inconvenience.”

MenSoulEnoughPleasureRiskGenerationsHe ManMen And WomenDepthEvery ManPsychologicalOur TimeOverwhelmingDiscomfortAccusationInconvenienceImpotenceInsincerity
Author:Thomas Merton
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“I would call the attention of the reader to the difference between "reason" and "reasoning." Reason is a light, reasoning a process. Reason is a faculty, reasoning an exercise of that faculty. Reasoning proceeds from one truth to another by means of argumentation. This generally involves the whole mind in labor and complexity. But reason does not exist merely in order to engage in reasoning. The process is a means to an end. The true fulfillment of reason as a faculty is found when it can embrace the truth simply and without labor in the light of single intuition.”

MindMeanDoeEndsReasonWholeLightOrderFoundProcessDifferencesAttentionReaderExerciseLaborEmbraceIntuitionFulfillmentComplexityReasoningFacultyMeans To An EndArgumentation
Book:The Ascent to Truth
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“Detachment from things does not mean setting up a contradiction between 'things' and 'God' as if God were another thing and as if creatures were His rivals. We do not detach ourselves from things in order to attach ourselves to God, but rather we become detached from ourselves in order to see and use all things in and for God.”

IfsMeanDoeUseSpiritualOrderCreaturesAll ThingsSettingSettingsContradictionRivalsDetachmentDetached
Book:New Seeds of Contemplation
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“Let me say this before rain becomes a utility that they can plan and distribute for money. By "they" I mean the people who cannot understand that rain is a festival, who do not appreciate its gratuity, who think that what has no price has no value, that what cannot be sold is not real, so that the only way to make something actual is to place it on the market. The time will come when they will sell you even your rain. At the moment it is still free, and I am in it. I celebrate its gratuity and its meaninglessness.”

PeopleThinkingWayMeanStillsRealMomentsValuesWaterPlansRainAppreciateLet MeSellsEnvironmentalCelebrateFestivalsUtilityMeaninglessnessGratuity
Book:Raids on the Unspeakable
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“The illusion that mechanical progress means human improvement ... alienates us from our own being and our own reality. It is precisely because we are convinced that our life, as such, is better if we have a better car, a better TV set, better toothpaste, etc., that we condemn and destroy our own reality and the reality of our natural resources. Technology was made for man, not man for technology. In losing touch with being and thus with God, we have fallen into a senseless idolatry of production and consumption for their own sakes.”

IfsMenHumansMeanMadeRealityNaturalTechnologyOur LivesProgressCarTvsLosingIllusionResourcesSakeProductionsConvincedImprovementFallenEtcConsumptionConsumerismIdolatryNatural ResourcesOverconsumptionToothpaste
Book:Seeds
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“The modern child may early in his or her existence have natural inclinations toward spirituality. The child may have imagination, originality, a simple and individual response to reality, and even a tendency to moments of thoughtful silence and absorption. All these tendencies, however, are soon destroyed by the dominant culture. The child becomes a yelling, brash, false little monster, brandishing a toy gun or dressed up like some character he has seen on television.”

MayChildrenLittlesMomentsCharacterRealityCultureSpiritualityIndividualImaginationNaturalSimpleExistenceSilenceModernTelevisionGunResponseMonstersTendenciesDestroyedThoughtfulOriginalityToysConsumerismDominantInclinationYellingOverconsumptionDressed UpAbsorptionBrashDominant CultureToy Guns
Author:Thomas Merton
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“The primordial blessing, 'increase and multiply', has suddenly become a hemorrhage of terror. We are numbered in billions, and massed together, marshalled, numbered, marched here and there, taxed, drilled, armed, worked to the point of insensibility, dazed by information, drugged by entertainment, surfeited with everything, nauseated with the human race and with ourselves, nauseated with life.”

HumansTogetherRaceInformationBlessingIncreaseTerrorEntertainmentBillionsHuman RaceHere And ThereDazedInsensibility
Book:Raids on the Unspeakable
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“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.”

PeopleMayMeanMatterOrderInterestNaturalHurtPleasureGroupsIdealsAimNo Matter WhatInterfereNatural Order
Book:The Seven Storey Mountain
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“Each particular being, in its individuality, its concrete nature and entity, with all its own characteristics and its private qualities and its own inviolable identity, gives glory to God by being precisely what He wants it to be here and now, in the circumstances ordained for it by His Love and His infinite Art.”

WantGivingArtQualityIdentityParticularCircumstancesGloryInfiniteIndividualityCharacteristicsConcreteEntityHis LoveHere And NowGlory Of God
Book:New Seeds of Contemplation
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“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.”

MeanSelfFactsProblemLastsGraceMinesFindingsSalvationCharitySaintWho I AmCommunismAnalysisBeing YourselfDiscoveringTrue SelfSanctityBeing Myself
Author:Thomas Merton
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