Thomas Merton

"The whole idea of compassion is based on a keen awareness of the interdependence of all these living beings, which are all part of one another."

"A man cannot be a monk all day and then in the afternoon step out of his habit and pretend he is a different person."

"We are dying from overthinking. We are slowly killing ourselves by drowning in our thoughts."

"The one thing I notice that changes people is when they have someone who believes in them."

"The biggest emotion I have is gratitude. It's brought me such incredible joy."

"To study the way of the Buddha is to study the self, and to study the self is to forget the self."

"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes."

"I have always depended on the kindness of those around me."

"Do not desire to escape your life but to embrace it fully."

"When you have nothing left but God, then for the first time you become aware that God is enough."

"We are not called to be successful but to be faithful."

"In a society in which contempt for the weak has become the driving force and progress demands the constant upgrading of human value, there is no bottom."

"A gift is pure when it is given from the heart to the right person at the right time."

"Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions."

"The truth that many people never understand, until it is too late, is that the more you own, the more it owns you."

"I will be a marked man. That is the thing. I will be spotted. But God knows about all that."

"The monastic journey is about learning to die before you die."

"We cannot be fully alive unless we are always hungry for experience, for change, for growth."

"The capacity to respond to others with compassion is perhaps the greatest gift we possess."

"Time is not real, it is only the movement of our thoughts."

"All the good and healing I have experienced has come through people."

"Our job is to love others without stopping to inquire whether or not they are worthy."

"The Christian life is not a life of success, but a life of faithfulness in love."

"Creativity is not a talent. It is a way of operating."

"The purpose of all things is to teach us about God."

"One generation plants the trees; another gets the shade."

"We are never simply ourselves without God, who creates and sustains us in every moment."

"Love is not something that we should fear because it is beautiful."

"The greatest paradox is that in order to live, we must be willing to die."

"To understand everything is to forgive everything."