I have come to think that care of the soul requires a high degree of resistance to the culture around us, simply because that culture is dedicated to values that have no concern for the soul.
—Thomas Merton

When I criticize a system, they think I criticize them and that is of course because they fully accept the system and identify themselves with it.
—Thomas Merton

Our job is to love others without stopping to inquire whether or not they are worthy. That is not our business and, in fact, it is nobody’s business. What we are asked to do is to love, and this love itself will render both ourselves and our neighbors worthy.
—Thomas Merton

You do not need to know precisely what is happening, or exactly where it is all going. What you need is to recognize the possibilities and challenges offered by the present moment, and to embrace them with courage, faith, and hope.
—Thomas Merton

The beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves, and not to twist them to fit our own image. Otherwise we love only the reflection of ourselves we find in them.
—Thomas Merton

Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance, order, rhythm and harmony.
—Thomas Merton

The beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves, and not twist them to fit our own image. Otherwise we love only the reflection of ourselves we find in them.
—Thomas Merton

Pride makes us artificial and humility makes us real.
—Thomas Merton

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