Thomas Merton

"We must learn to see with the eyes of a child, and yet think with the mind of an adult."

"The capacity to enjoy life is a skill that must be learned and practiced."

"We are dying from civilization and all its discontents."

"Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time."

"Solitude is not found so much in actual desert places as in the desert of the soul."

"The purpose of life is not to be happy but to be awake."

"What we must deal with is not merely our individual lives, but the life of the whole world."

"Compassion is the keen awareness of the interdependence of all things."

"We cannot live only for ourselves; a thousand fibers connect us with our fellow beings."

"The true paradises are the paradises that we have lost."

"There is always a temptation to didacticism, to moralism, to put things in such a way that is too simple."

"One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious."

"To allow oneself to be carried away by a multitude of conflicting concerns is a form of spiritual suicide."

"The biggest human temptation is to settle for too little."

"We have to pray with our eyes on God, not on our difficulties."

"The way to find your true self is to lose yourself in service to others."

"Writing is a form of prayer, a way of speaking to God and to oneself."

"To be a saint is to be fully alive and fully human."

"The source of all creativity is divine; we are merely the instruments."

"A tree gives glory to God by being a tree."

"Peace is not something to strive for; it is something to recognize."

"The monastic life teaches us that less is more, that simplicity is freedom."

"Language is our greatest tool for creating meaning, but also for obscuring truth."

"Love is the ability to act in a way that serves the happiness of others."

"We must learn to listen to the silence within ourselves and within the world."

"Every person is a unique expression of God's love and creativity."

"The modern world is drowning in information but starving for wisdom."

"Real love is not something you feel; it is something you do."

"To live is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed often."

"The greatest gift we can offer another is our authentic presence."