Compassion is the keen awareness of the interdependence of all things.
THOMAS MERTONBefore we can realize who we really are, we must become conscious of the fact that the person we think we are, here and now, is at best an impostor and a stranger.
More Thomas Merton Quotes
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Nothing has ever been said about God that hasn’t already been said better by the wind in the pine trees.
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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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In Silence God ceases to be an object and becomes an experience.
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Violence is not completely fatal until it ceases to disturb us.
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Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.
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Perhaps I am stronger than I think.
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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 so obsessed with doing that we have no time and no imagination left for being. As a result, men are valued not for what they are but for what they do or what they have – for their usefulness.
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For although God is right with us and in us and out of us and all through us, we have to go on journeys to find him.
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What can we gain by sailing to the moon if we cannot cross the abyss that separates us from ourselves?
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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.
THOMAS MERTON -
To say that I am made in the image of God is to say that love is the reason for my existence, for God is love. Love is my true identity. Selflessness is my true self. Love is my true character. Love is my name.
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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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No one is so wrong as the man who knows all the answers.
THOMAS MERTON