The man who sweats under his mask, whose role makes him itch with discomfort, who hates the division in himself, is already beginning to be free.
THOMAS MERTONFor each one of us, there is only one thing necessary: to fulfill our own destiny, according to God’s will, to be what God wants us to be.
More Thomas Merton Quotes
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The purpose of our lives is to find the purpose of our lives.
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People may spend their whole lives climbing the ladder of success only to find, once they reach the top, that the ladder is leaning against the wrong wall.
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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.
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We are not at peace with others because we are not at peace with ourselves, and we are not at peace with ourselves because we are not at peace with God.
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For perfect hope is achieved on the brink of despair, when instead of falling over the edge, we find ourselves walking on air.
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Every one of us is shadowed by an illusory person: a false Self. We are not very good at recognizing illusions, least of all the ones we cherish about ourselves.
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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. The one who does most to avoid suffering is, in the end, the one who suffers most.
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It is my belief, that we should not be too sure of having found Christ in ourselves until we have found him also in that part of humanity that is most remote from our own.
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Not 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.
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Violence is not completely fatal until it ceases to disturb us.
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We cannot achieve greatness unless we lose all interest in being great.
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Actions are the doors and windows of being. Unless we act, we have no way of knowing what we are.
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Love is our true destiny. We do not find the meaning of life by ourselves alone – we find it with another.
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Prayer is not so much a way to find God as a way of resting in him who loves us, who is near to us.
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When your tongue is silent, you can rest in the silence of the forest. When your imagination is silent, the forest speaks to you. It tells you of its unreality and of the Reality of God. But when your mind is silent, then the forest suddenly becomes magnificently real and blazes transparently with the Reality of God.
THOMAS MERTON