In Silence God ceases to be an object and becomes an experience.
THOMAS MERTONNot all of us are called to be hermits, but all of us need enough silence and solitude in our lives to enable the deeper voice of our own self to be heard at least occasionally.
More Thomas Merton Quotes
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No one is so wrong as the man who knows all the answers.
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The beginning of love is the will to let those we love be perfectly themselves.
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A happiness that is sought for ourselves alone can never be found: for a happiness that is diminished by being shared is not big enough to make us happy.
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The whole idea of compassion is based on a keen awareness of the interdependence of all these living beings, which are all part of one another, and all involved in one another.
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Violence is not completely fatal until it ceases to disturb us.
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Every breath we draw is a gift of God’s love; every moment of existence is a grace.
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How can I be sincere if I am constantly changing my mind to conform with the shadow of what I think others expect of me?
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Others can give you a name or a number, but they can never tell you who you really are. That is something you yourself can only discover from within.
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Self-conquest is really self-surrender. Yet before we can surrender ourselves we must become ourselves. For no one can give up what he does not possess.
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We live on the brink of disaster because we do not know how to let life alone. We do not respect the living and fruitful contradictions and paradoxes of which true life is full.
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Instead of hating the people you think are war-makers, hate the appetites and disorder in your own soul, which are the causes of war. If you love peace, then hate injustice, hate tyranny, hate greed – but hate these things in yourself, not in another.
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We cannot achieve greatness unless we lose all interest in being great.
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Perhaps I am stronger than I think.
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Our job is to love others without stopping to inquire whether or not they are worthy.
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Do not look for rest in any pleasure, because you were not created for pleasure: you were created for joy. And if you do not know the difference between pleasure and joy you have not yet begun to live.
THOMAS MERTON