Thomas Merton

"We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned in order to embrace the life that awaits us."

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

"Happiness is not something that can be pursued. It must ensue."

"Books are necessary to preserve knowledge and culture."

"To say that I am made in the image of God is to say that love is the reason for my existence."

"The more you own, the more it owns you."

"Every moment and every event of every man's life on earth plants something in his soul."

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

"We must make the choice to trust life even when we cannot see the way ahead."

"The greatest need of our time is for people of prayer who can speak with authority about God."

"Silence is the mother of truth."

"To be a writer is to have a vocation of unhappiness."

"Mercy within justice is the character of the judge."

"We cannot be ourselves unless we lose ourselves in something greater than ourselves."

"The way to peace is not through strength but through love."

"There is no way to tell people that they are all walking around shining like the sun."

"The monk is not defined by his task but by his response to God's presence."

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

"Technology is a means, not an end in itself."

"The greatest problem is our inability to see the obvious."

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

"Beauty is the splendor of truth."

"The life we are living is always the life we need to be living."

"Education should teach us how to think, not what to think."

"Faith is not a matter of intellectual conviction but of trust in the person of Christ."

"The real use of music is to pass the time between waking and sleeping."

"We live in an age of extraordinary technical accomplishment and genuine spiritual poverty."

"The greatest thing we can do is to show up for one another authentically."

"Every act of kindness is an act of worship."

"Our real journey in life is interior."