Thomas Merton Quotes

Ideas lead to actions.

Writing crystallizes thought and thought produces action.

Revolutions are brought about by men, by men who think as men of action and act as men of thought.

I'm not trying to steer people in a direction. I'm just trying to move them. Wherever it takes them, it doesn't matter to me. I just want them to be moved in one way or another, and that's a hard thing to do, I think.

A minute of thought is greater than an hour of talk.

Either move or be moved.

We can set the spark that lights the fire.

Movement inspires a lot in me.

To think is to confine yourself to a single thought that one day stands still like a star in the world's sky.

Comes over one an absolute necessity to move. And what is more, to move in some particular direction. A double necessity then: to get on the move, and to know whither.

Drop that zero and get with the hero!

Thought is essentially practical in the sense that but for thought no motion would be an action, no change a progress.

As long as hope does not embrace and transform the thought and action of men, it remains topsy-turvy and ineffective.

A five-word sentence that could change the world tomorrow is What would love do now?

The greatest journeys all start with a single step.

You can't move people to action unless you first move them with emotion. The heart comes before the head.

You're either an activist or an inactivist. I want to stop this.

Silence is the garden of thought.

Most of us have all the information we need. What we need is more passion.

If you're not creating, you're waiting.

One mighty deed can change the course of things; a lonely thought becomes omnipotent.

Tis action moves the world....[in] the game of chess, mind that: ye cannot leave your men to stand unmoving on the board and hope to win. A soldier must first step upon the battlefield if does mean to cross it.

Things in motion sooner catch the eye than what not stirs.

I want people to be moved, to feel called to action. That's what I want to do.