Thomas Merton Quotes

I try to say something about the human condition whenever I can when I'm lucky.

I think I can see more clearly now - about how the pattern of past experiences has shaped who I am and the characters I have played - and I'm grateful for that.

I think about my journey sometimes.

I thought of the things that had happened to me over the years, and of how little I had made happen.

I think about Lenaya and Hugh. Will they know how much I've changed this year? Will they have changed too? I'll wait until tomorrow to find out. And then it's possible I won't find out after all. Because some changes happen deep down inside of you. And the truth is, only you know about them. Maybe that's the way it's supposed to be.

Writing in a journal reminds you of your goals and of your learning in life. It offers a place where you can hold a deliberate, thoughtful conversation with yourself.

If you really want to know yourself, start by writing a book.

I'm always writing at night - things I would change, things I would do differently. When I write a note, it sticks in my head differently.

I was 20 years old and felt I had a lot to offer, even to myself.

When I go back and read my journals or fiction, I am always surprised. I may not remember having those thoughts, but they still exist and I know they are mine, and it's all part of making sense of who I am.

Calamity is the perfect glass wherein we truly see and know ourselves.

Everyone needs solitude, especially a person who is used to thinking about what she experiences. Solitude is very important in my work as a mode of inspiration, but isolation is not good in this respect. I am not writing poetry about isolation.

I've always been a journal-keeper. I've always tried to write about how I'm experiencing life, and my feelings and thoughts.

What makes writing a memoir difficult is harder to quantify. Is it learning to know when you're ready to talk about something? Is it seeing the structure in a lumpen mass of fact? Is it finding out what you were really like as other people saw you? Yes to each.

The roles I think about and can't stop thinking about - on the subway, when I'm riding my bike, when I'm running - are the things I connect to.

You learn a lot about yourself just by writing it down.

If you gave me an hour in the day between '09 and '14, I could have told you exactly where I was and what I was doing.

When I'm out having the experiences, that's exactly what I'm doing: having the experiences. Then I can later reflect and write.

Basically, when I did 'Infinity' in 1997, I had thoughts in my head that left me with a lot of questions. I've gone to certain personal limits with 'Infinity' that, at the end of it, I think, scared me. And I've made a lot of really kinda bad mistakes as a result of that.

I do a lot of journaling.

We're all reflections of the lives we lead.

I found after seventy years that I was not a lunatic but a moron.... I should have been able to do better.

I'm much more introspective than I was, say, thirty years ago.

As I look back over my life, I've been an active person - obviously I was self-absorbed for a period of time.

Self-reflection is the school of wisdom.