Thomas Merton Quotes

I don't want to be seen as the kind of person who does things and then expects publicity in return.

Virtue would go far if vanity did not keep it company.

I will serve the people in a very humble way.

I don't care about power. I don't care about credit.

I accept everything which is favorable for the people and the army; for myself, I wish to live in retirement.

I was not driven by fame and fortune.

I don't feel like I'm a hero.

We love those people who give with humility, or who accept with ease.

Being humble means recognizing that we are not on earth to see how important we can become, but to see how much difference we can make in the lives of others

Do what good thou canst unknown, and be not vain of what ought rather to be felt than seen.

Humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less. Humility is thinking more of others.

Be loving, and you will never want for love; be humble, and you will never want for guiding.

Self-seeking, self-glory, that is not me. No. Many people say I embarrass them with my humility.

Above all, I would like to be remembered as a man who was selfless, who strove and worried so that others could share the glory, and who built up a family of people who could hold their heads up high and say 'We're Liverpool'.

Plenty of people want to be pious, but no one yearns to be humble.

She looked at him in wonder. "Do people think of me like that? I only did what anybody could have done." "That's as it may be," he replied. "The fact is, that you did it.

If not for that of conscience, yet at least for ambition's sake, let us reject ambition, let us disdain that thirst of honor and renown, so low and mendicant; that it makes us beg it of all sorts of people.

Mary’s life shows that God accomplishes great deeds through those who are the most humble.

A perfect man would never act from a sense of duty; he’d always want the right thing more than the wrong one. Duty is only a substitute for love (of God and of other people) like a crutch which is a substitute for a leg. Most of us need the crutch at times; but of course it is idiotic to use the crutch when our own legs (our own loves, tastes, habits etc.) can do the journey on their own.

I am better off doing as abnegation taught me: turning away from myself, projecting always outward, and hoping that in whatever is next, I will be better than I am now.

I want people to have less me.

Poem by Howard A. Walter (Character) I would be true, for there are those who trust me; I would be pure, for there are those who care; I would be strong, for there are those who suffer; I would be brave, for there is much to dare. I would be friend of all--- the foe, the friendless; I would be giving, and forget the gift; I would be humble, for I know my weakness; I would look up, and laugh, and love, and lift.

If I never won a Grammy, I would be satisfied, if in fact I could help people. I don't say that because it sounds like something cool to say.

Few men are both rich and generous; fewer are both rich and humble.

To take no account of oneself, but always to think well and highly of others is the highest wisdom and perfection.