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.
THOMAS MERTONFear narrows the little entrance of our heart. It shrinks up our capacity to love. It freezes up our power to give ourselves.
More Thomas Merton Quotes
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Our real journey in life is interior.
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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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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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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 spiritual life is first of all a life. It is not merely something to be known and studied, it is to be lived.
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Learn how to meditate on paper. Drawing and writing are forms of meditation. Learn how to contemplate works of art. Learn how to pray in the streets or in the country. Know how to meditate not only when you have a book in your hand but when you are waiting for a bus or riding in a train.
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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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Compassion is the keen awareness of the interdependence of all things.
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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 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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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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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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When you see God in everyone, then they see God in you.
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Pride makes us artificial and humility makes us real.
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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