Thomas MertonOur minds are like crows. They pick up everything that glitters, no matter how uncomfortable our nests get with all that metal in them. ✨ Thomas Merton (2007). New Seeds of … ▶372Thought
Thomas MertonEach one of us has some kind of vocation. We are all called by God to share in His life and in His Kingdom. Each one of us is called to a special place in the Kingdom. If we find … ▶372Life
Thomas MertonThe whole function of the life of prayer is, then, to enlighten and strengthen our conscience so that it not only knows and perceives the outward, written precepts of the moral an… ▶361LifePoliticsTruth
Thomas MertonThinking about monastic ideals is not the same as living up to them, but at any rate such thinking has an important place in a monk's life, because you cannot begin to do anything… ▶372LifeThought
Thomas MertonBut it certainly is a wonderful thing to wake up suddenly in the solitude of the woods and look up at the sky and see the utter nonsense of everything including all the solemn stu… ▶361HumorLifeLove
Thomas MertonGod, Who is everywhere, never leaves us. Yet He seems sometimes to be present, sometimes to be absent. If we do not know Him well, we do not realize that He may be more present to… ▶351Time
Thomas MertonAs a magnifying glass concentrates the rays of the sun into a little burning knot of heat that can set fire to a dry leaf or a piece of paper, so the mystery of Christ in the Gosp… ▶351LifeLoveTruth
Thomas MertonOne of the most important-and most neglected-elements in the beginning of the interior life is the ability to respond to reality, to see the value and the beauty in ordinary thing… ▶351LifeTruth
Thomas MertonTherefore, doing the Stations of the Cross was still more laborious than consoling, and required a sacrifice. It was much the same with all my devotions. They did not come easily … ▶351LoveTruth
Thomas MertonLove is not a mere emotion or sentiment. It is the lucid and ardent responses of the whole person to a value that is revealed to him as perfect. ✨ Thomas Merton (1998). Cont… ▶351LoveTime
Thomas MertonBut there is greater comfort in the substance of silence than in the answer to a question. ✨ Thomas Merton (2002). The Sign of Jonas, p.373, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt363Humor
Thomas MertonWhat is the use of praying if at the very moment of prayer, we have so little confidence in God that we are busy planning our own kind of answer to our prayer? ✨ Thomas Mert… ▶374ThoughtTime
Thomas MertonFor now, oh my God, it is to You alone that I can talk, because nobody else will understand. I cannot bring any other man on this earth into the cloud where I dwell in Your light,… ▶341DeathReading
Thomas MertonIf you write for God you will reach many men and bring them joy. If you write for men--you may make some money and you may give someone a little joy and you may make a noise in th… ▶363DeathReading
Thomas MertonSaints are what they are not because their sanctity makes them admirable to others, but because the gift of sainthood makes it possible for them to admire everyone else. ✨ T… ▶374Hope
Thomas MertonThe deepest level of communication is not communication, but communion. It is wordless. It is beyond words, and it is beyond speech, and it is beyond concept. Not that we discover… ▶352LoveReading
Thomas MertonSolitude is not something you must hope for in the future. Rather, it is a deepening of the present, and unless you look for it in the present you will never find it. ✨ Thom… ▶352HopeTime
Thomas MertonLet no one hope to find in contemplation an escape from conflict, from anguish or from doubt. On the contrary, the deep inexpressible certitude of the contemplative experience awa… ▶364HopeLifeLove
Thomas MertonLove is our true destiny. ✨ Thomas Merton (1979). Love and Living, p.32, Macmillan353LifeLoveTruth
Thomas MertonLife is not accomplishing some special work but attaining to a degree of consciousness and inner freedom which is beyond all works and attainments. ✨ Thomas Merton (1993). T… ▶364LifeTruth
Thomas MertonThe devil is no fool. He can get people feeling about heaven the way they ought to feel about hell. He can make them fear the means of grace the way they do not fear sin. And he d… ▶364HumanityTruth
Thomas MertonNone of our prayers should ever be petitions for our own needs: for this is only another subtle way of trying to put ourselves on the same plane as God — acting as if we had no ne… ▶331Thought
Thomas MertonKeeping a journal has taught me that there is not so much new in your life as you sometimes think. When you re-read your journal you find out that your latest discovery is somethi… ▶353LifeReadingThought
Thomas MertonGratitude takes nothing for granted, is never unresponsive, is constantly awakening to new wonder. ✨ Thomas Merton (2011). Thoughts In Solitude, p.48, Macmillan375Thought
Thomas MertonTo be grateful is to recognize the love of God in everything. ✨ Thomas Merton (2011). Thoughts In Solitude, p.48, Macmillan342LoveThought
Thomas MertonA faith that is afraid of other people is no faith at all. ✨ Seeds.375HopeHumanity
Thomas MertonWe stumble and fall constantly even when we are most enlightened. But when we are in true spiritual darkness, we do not even know that we have fallen. ✨ Thomas Merton (2011)… ▶353ThoughtTruth
Thomas MertonWe are not converted only once in our lives but many times and this endless series of conversions and inner revolutions leads to our transformation.354Time
Thomas MertonDo 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 … ▶376Love
Thomas MertonThe real reason why so few men believe in God is that they have ceased to believe that even a God can love them. ✨ Thomas Merton (2005). No Man is an Island, p.213, Shambhal… ▶332Love
