For perfect hope is achieved on the brink of despair, when instead of falling over the edge, we find ourselves walking on air.
THOMAS MERTON
THOMAS MERTON
Thomas Merton on achievement
Thomas Merton76 quotes“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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More from Thomas Merton
Our job is to love others without stopping to inquire whether or not they are worthy.
Thomas MertonThomas Merton 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.
Thomas MertonThomas Merton 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?
Thomas MertonThomas Merton 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 MertonThomas Merton 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.
Thomas MertonThomas Merton Every breath we draw is a gift of God’s love; every moment of existence is a grace.
Thomas MertonThomas Merton In Silence God ceases to be an object and becomes an experience.
Thomas MertonThomas Merton Our 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.
Thomas MertonThomas Merton Our job is to love others without stopping to inquire whether or not they are worthy. That is not our business and, in fact, it is nobody’s business. What we are asked to do is to love, and this love itself will render both ourselves and our neighbors worthy.
Thomas MertonThomas Merton From the moment you put a piece of bread in your mouth you are part of the world. Who grew the wheat? Who made the bread? Where did it come from? You are in relationship with all who brought it to the table. We are least separate and most in common when we eat and drink.
Thomas MertonThomas Merton Do not be too quick to condemn the man who no longer believes in God: for it is perhaps your own coldness and avarice and mediocrity and materialism and selfishness that have chilled his faith.
Thomas MertonThomas Merton 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.
Thomas MertonThomas Merton For 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.
Thomas MertonThomas Merton The purpose of our lives is to find the purpose of our lives.
Thomas MertonThomas Merton 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.
Thomas MertonThomas Merton A faith that is afraid of other people is no faith at all.
Thomas MertonThomas Merton
Original quotes
From our community writers
We were dirt poor but we had each other. We didn’t need much to have a lot.
Brad NeatonBrad Neaton Always show kindness and love to others. Your words might be filling the empty places in someone else heart.
Alexander KandovAlexander Kandov One quick sip of your memory I let it slip, and I go on without you.
Emma SchippersEmma Schippers If the scars on my heart were visible to the naked eye, maybe you’d think twice about inflicting more.
Laura Natoli-KearneyLaura Natoli-Kearney I am getting better at forgetting you. I am slowly but steadily learning the art of forgetting you.
Juana GarciaJuana Garcia Paper and pen petrify me, for they pierce right through me, drawing deep blue blood, leaving me utterly cold.
Shreya JoshiShreya Joshi Spend time with people who get excited over even the smallest victories you earn.
Sonia SabnisSonia Sabnis I wonder if you were the poison or the antidote.
Ginnie BaleGinnie Bale
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More on achievement
When I went to college, as much as my parents emphasized academic achievement, they emphasized marriage even more. They told me that the most eligible women marry young to get a ‘good man’ before they are all taken.
Sheryl SandbergSheryl Sandberg The gender stereotypes introduced in childhood are reinforced throughout our lives and become self-fulfilling prophesies. Most leadership positions are held by men, so women don’t expect to achieve them, and that becomes one of the reasons they don’t.
Sheryl SandbergSheryl Sandberg I think I can improve a lot. I think I can get a lot better. I feel like there’s much, much more I can do.
Serena WilliamsSerena Williams I’m not a celebrity. I’m just the same Simone. I just have two Olympic Gold medals now.
Simone BilesSimone Biles We need the real, nation-wide terror which reinvigorates the country and through which the Great French Revolution achieved glory.
Vladimir LeninVladimir Lenin Until women are as ambitious as men, they’re not gong to achieve as much as men.
Sheryl SandbergSheryl Sandberg Every labourer is a father, his labour is his child. Choose your project carefully and achieve it worthily
Haile SelassieHaile Selassie But if future generations are to remember us more with gratitude than with sorrow, we must achieve more than just the miracles of technology. We must also leave them a glimpse of the world as God really made it, not just as it looked when we got through with it.
Lyndon B. JohnsonLyndon B. Johnson