Thomas Merton Quotes

I believe in rainbows and all of that. But there are darker colors … and it's the shade that defines the light.

Sometimes I feel like there is so much to be afraid of, and sometimes I feel like there is nothing left to fear.

But hope is no less realistic than despair. It is still our choice whether to live in light or lie down in darkness.

The depth of our despair measures what capability and height of claim we have to hope.

Ambivalence is a wonderful tune to dance to. It has a rhythm all its own.

If you're feeling low, don't despair. The sun has a sinking spell every night, but it comes back up every morning.

I am of the opinion, and even more so the older I get, that it is more difficult to have hope than it is to despair. And I mean this in the sense that in order to have hope you must acknowledge the despair and then you have to get beyond it. Taken from a radio interview given on BBC Radio 4's Open Book

Captain Cuttle, like all mankind, little knew how much hope had survived within him under discouragement, until he felt its death-shock.

I have been through a lot and have suffered a great deal. But I have had lots of happy moments, as well. Every moment one lives is different from the other. The good, the bad, hardship, the joy, the tragedy, love, and happiness are all interwoven into one single, indescribable whole that is called life. You cannot separate the good from the bad. And perhaps there is no need to do so, either.

It is hope, not despair, that undoes us all.

I fight with love and i laugh with rage....you gotta live light enough to see the humor, and long enough to see some change.

Fear is the enemy of hope.

The ups and downs, the problems and stress, along with all the happiness, have given me optimism and hope because I am living proof of survival.

The soul does not give itself up to despair until it has exhausted all illusions.

We need hope, or else we cannot endure.

To live is to wrestle with despair, yet never allow despair to have the last word.

You have to maintain a fine balance between hope and despair.

Like strength is felt from hope, and from despair.

To face life without hope can mean to live without despair.

I have often been downcast, but never in despair.

She wondered that hope was so much harder then despair.

As we have said, robust souls are sometimes almost, but not entirely, overthrown by strokes of misfortune....Despair has steps leading upward. From total depression we rise to despondency, from despondency to affliction, from affliction to melancholy. Melancholy is a twilight state in which suffering transmutes into a somber joy....Melancholy is the enjoyment of being sad.

It is possible to suffer and despair an entire lifetime and still not give up the art of laughter.