Thomas Merton Quotes

On the vaporization and the centralization of the Self. All is there.

Do whatever it takes to convey your essential self.

I wanted to become me, totally me. The more me, the better. I instinctively knew this and I was right.

I know who I am. And after all these years, there's a victory in that.

Only by owning who and what you are can you step into the fullness of life.

I find myself both as man and as myself something more determined and distinctive, at pitch, more distinctive and higher pitched than anything else I see.

The woman's personal identity is a vast undiscovered country -- with which Society has yet to acquaint itself, and by which it is yet to be revolutionized.

In the ardor of his enthusiasm, a youth set forth in quest of a man of whom he might take counsel as to his future, but after long search and many disappointments, he came near relinquishing the pursuit as hopeless, when suddenly it occurred to him that one must first be a man to find a man, and profiting by this suggestion, he set himself to the work of becoming himself the man he had been seeking so long and fruitlessly.

Nothing I accept about myself can be used against me to diminish me. I am who I am, doing what I came to do, acting upon you like a drug or a chisel to remind you of your me-ness, as I discover you in myself.

The greatest discovery in life is self-discovery. Until you find yourself you will always be someone else. Become yourself.

From the moment we claim the truth of being the beloved, we are faced with the call to become who we are.

Find yourself for courage and confidence are as easy as breathing to the person who really knows who he is.

At midlife, you're pregnant with the best self you can be - someone who has learned enough from both successes and failures to add up to a fine human being.

Just a little relaxation, just a little looking inwards, and the doors of immense potentialities open up. You are no more a beggar. Without conquering the world you have conquered the whole universe. Just conquer yourself.

To me, the most interesting part of 'True Blood' is that the entire crux of the show is based on identity and finding your true identity.

I have to live in the truth that this is who I am. That's what I need to focus on.

It is the chiefest point of happiness that a man is willing to be what he is.

Learn what you are and be such.

The way it actually works is the reverse. You must first be who you really are, then do what you need to do, in order to have what you want.

I can be Erykah the human being more than the celebrity.

I once wanted to prove myself by being a great actress. Now I want to prove that I'm a person. Then maybe I'll be a great actress.

I came to love, I came into my own.

To get what you want out of life, all you can really do is find out who you are, and do that.

I've fully embraced who I am. I stopped fighting with people and just come to realize, 'This is me. This is all of me.'

It just gets easier in that you become more you in the process.