American - Author | January 31, 1915 - December 10, 1968
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.
Thomas Merton
LoveAloneOthersBeginExistOnly
Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.
TimeArtLoseFindSameUs
Just remaining quietly in the presence of God, listening to Him, being attentive to Him, requires a lot of courage and know-how.
GodCourageListeningHimPresence
Love seeks one thing only: the good of the one loved. It leaves all the other secondary effects to take care of themselves. Love, therefore, is its own reward.
LoveGoodCareLovedTake CareOwn
We must make the choices that enable us to fulfill the deepest capacities of our real selves.
ChoicesDeepestRealUsMustOur
We have what we seek, it is there all the time, and if we give it time, it will make itself known to us.
TimeWillSeekUsGiveKnown
In the last analysis, the individual person is responsible for living his own life and for 'finding himself.' If he persists in shifting his responsibility to somebody else, he fails to find out the meaning of his own existence.
LifeResponsibilityMeaningFinding
Peace demands the most heroic labor and the most difficult sacrifice. It demands greater heroism than war. It demands greater fidelity to the truth and a much more perfect purity of conscience.
TruthPeaceSacrificeWarPerfect
When ambition ends, happiness begins.
HappinessAmbitionBeginsEnds
A life is either all spiritual or not spiritual at all. No man can serve two masters. Your life is shaped by the end you live for. You are made in the image of what you desire.
LifeLiveManSpiritualEndYou
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.
GodPeaceOthersBecauseOurselves
The very contradictions in my life are in some ways signs of God's mercy to me.
LifeGodMeMy LifeMercySigns
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