Thomas Merton Quotes

The deepest need of our darkness is to comprehend the light which shines in the midst of it.

Those who are not grateful soon begin to complain of everything.

One came out of the church with a kind of comfortable and satisfied feeling that something had been done that needed to be done, and that was all I knew about it.

In the end, no one can seek God unless he has already begun to find him.

All theology is a kind of birthdayEach one who is born Comes into the world as a questionFor which old answersAre not sufficient…

How deluded we sometimes are by the clear notions we get out of books.

Into this world, this demented innin which there is absolutely no room for him at all, Christ comes uninvited.

Be still:There is no longer any need of comment.It was a lucky windThat blew away his halo with his cares, A lucky sea that drowned his reputation.

My mother was informing me, by mail, that she was about to die, and would never see me again.

The deepest of level of communication is not communication, but communion. It is wordless ... beyond speech ... beyond concept.

Finally, I am coming to the conclusion that my highest ambition is to be what I already am.

We have what we seek. It is there all the time and if we give it time it will make itself known to us.

I will not fear for you are ever with me and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

Violence is essentially wordless and it can begin only where thought and rational communication have broken down.

The least of the work of learning is done in the classroom.

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.

We do not exist for ourselves alone, and it is only when we are fully convinced of this fact that we begin to love ourselves properly and thus also love others.