1 The beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves, and not to twist them to fit our own image. – Thomas Merton
The most important thing in love is to accept those we love the way they are with all their imperfections. Love is when you learn to embrace their flaws and everything about them without expecting them to change.
2 Love is our true destiny. We do not find the meaning of life by ourselves alone – we find it with another. Thomas Merton
Life, and everything in it, is best enjoyed with another. It is a journey that needs to be undertaken with another by your side. A life without love is only survived, not lived.
3 Pride makes us artificial and humility makes us real. -Thomas Merton
Pride makes us lie about ourselves. We make up this superficial and untrue image of ourselves in our mind and live by that. It is only in humility that we find our true selves.
4 Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time. -Thomas Merton
We see our reflections in the art that we like. Through art we can find and understand our true selves. And we can only understand art if we detach ourselves from our reality and immerse ourselves in it.
5 Every moment and every event of every man’s life on earth plants something in his soul. Thomas Merton
Every moment that we spend in this world teaches us something very important about life. The things we learn and experience convulges in making us the person we are.
6 When ambition ends, happiness begins. -Thomas Merton
Our constant urge to acquire more and more is what makes us incapable of experiencing true happiness. When we learn to give up our needless ambitions, we’ll learn to be truly at peace with ourselves.
7 What can we gain by sailing to the moon if we are not able to cross the abyss that separates us from ourselves? -Thomas Merton
There is no place we will find peace and happiness if we cannot accept our own selves. No amount of love for others, wealth or possessions will ever bring us happiness if we cannot love ourselves first.
8 The least of the work of learning is done in the classroom. -Thomas Merton
Our schools and colleges teach us very little about life itself. It is only when we get out of our schools and experience things for ourselves that we understand the complexities of life.
9 We are so obsessed with doing that we have no time and no imagination left for being. -Thomas Merton
We live our life mindlessly working towards a goal without ever stopping to think even once. In this rat race we often forget to be what we are and to live life to the fullest.
10 We must make the choices that enable us to fulfill the deepest capacities of our real selves. -Thomas Merton
The decisions that we make have a larger impact on our future than we may realise. Choose the path that leads to your desired destination. Live a life being your true self.
11 We have what we seek, it is there all the time, and if we give it time, it will make itself known to us. -Thomas Merton
In the race to acquire more and more, we often forget that most of what we want is already around us. The happiness that we seek, the love that we want, everything can be found within us.
12 Yet it is in this loneliness that the deepest activities begin.
Only when we are alone does our greatest endeavors begin. It is in loneliness that we find our true selves. The best decisions that we make are those when we are away from the chaos of the world.
13 To consider persons and events and situations only in the light of their effect upon myself is to live on the doorstep of hell. -Thomas Merton
Self-centered thoughts make us bitter and dull. When we look at everything through our own narrow lens without considering what the other person might be going through, we become selfish and daft.
14 Your life is shaped by the end you live for, You are made in the image of what you desire. -Thomas Merton
Your desires and ambitions shape you as a person. The dreams that you chase and the values by which you live are what make you what you are.
15 We stumble and fall constantly even when we are most enlightened. -Thomas Merton
Failures are a part of life, regardless of who you are. You’ll constantly fall throughout life, but it is whether you choose to get up or not that really matters.
15 Best Quotes By Thomas Merton About Love, Art & Life
1. The beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves, and not to twist them to fit our own image. -Thomas Merton
2. Love is our true destiny. We do not find the meaning of life by ourselves alone – we find it with another. Thomas Merton
3. Pride makes us artificial and humility makes us real. -Thomas Merton
4. Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time. -Thomas Merton
5. Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time. -Thomas Merton
6. When ambition ends, happiness begins. -Thomas Merton
7. What can we gain by sailing to the moon if we are not able to cross the abyss that separates us from ourselves? -Thomas Merton
8. The least of the work of learning is done in the classroom. -Thomas Merton
9. We are so obsessed with doing that we have no time and no imagination left for being. -Thomas Merton
10. We must make the choices that enable us to fulfill the deepest capacities of our real selves. -Thomas Merton
11. We have what we seek, it is there all the time, and if we give it time, it will make itself known to us. -Thomas Merton
12. Yet it is in this loneliness that the deepest activities begin.
13. To consider persons and events and situations only in the light of their effect upon myself is to live on the doorstep of hell. -Thomas Merton
14. Your life is shaped by the end you live for, You are made in the image of what you desire. -Thomas Merton
15. We stumble and fall constantly even when we are most enlightened. -Thomas Merton
