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 MERTONOur real journey in life is interior; It is a matter of growth, deepening, and of an ever greater surrender to the creative action of love and grace in our hearts. Never was it more necessary to respond to that action.
More Thomas Merton Quotes
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Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.
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Gratitude takes nothing for granted, is never unresponsive, is constantly awakening to new wonder.
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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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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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Perhaps I am stronger than I think.
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Pride makes us artificial and humility makes us real.
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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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But if you want to identify me, ask me not where I live, or what I like to eat, or how I comb my hair, but ask me what I think I am living for.
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The artist should preach nothing-not even his own autonomy. His art should speak its own truth, and in so doing it will be in harmony with every other kind of truth- moral, metaphysical, mystical.
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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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In a world of noise, confusion and conflict it is necessary that there be places of silence, inner discipline and peace. In such places love can blossom.
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May God prevent us from becoming “right-thinking men”-that is to say men who agree perfectly with their own police.
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The greatest need of our time is to clean out the enormous mass of mental and emotional rubbish that clutters our minds.
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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 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.
THOMAS MERTON