Thomas Merton Quotes

Slowing down doesn't mean accomplishing less; it means cutting out counterproductive distractions and the perception of being rushed.

Doing more things faster is no substitute for doing the right things.

Decide that you will not try to do everything at once. That is why time is spread out.

If people would reflect that one can only do one thing at a time and therefore there is never more than one thing to do at a time, there would be less fatigue in the world.

Each thing I do, I rush through, so I can do something else.

We live as though there aren't enough hours in the day, but if we do each thing calmly and carefully we will get it done quicker and with much less stress.

The secret of the truly successful, I believe, is that they learned very early in life how not to be busy. They saw through that adage, repeated to me so often in childhood, that anything worth doing is worth doing well.

I just take everything one at a time and make sure everything I do is the best.

Be quick without hurrying.

To focus our mind on the task at hand-with fierce concentration-m akes for a productive use of time.

Devoting a little of yourself to everything means committing a great deal of yourself to nothing.

Though I am always in haste, I am never in a hurry.

Nothing easier than to confuse busyness with goodness.

It's incredibly easy to get caught up in an activity trap, in the busy-ness of life, to work harder and harder at climbing the ladder of success only to discover it's leaning against the wrong wall. It is possible to be busy - very busy - without being very effective.

You can't work on everything all the time, so start where you are.

Worry is a funky luxury when a lot has to be done.

I don't have time for any nonsense.

Throughout my career, I have discovered and rediscovered a simple truth.It is this: the ability to concentrate single-mindedly on your most important task, to do it well and to finish it completely, is the key to great success, achievement, respect, status and happiness in life.

I have to always make sure I don't stay in one place and spend too much time one subject. I have my wife tell me [through an earpiece], "Come back! You're taking too long on that subject." I need to be reeled in.

Don't confuse activity with productivity. Many people are simply busy being busy.

Do each day all that can be done that day. You don't need to overwork or to rush blindly into your work trying to do the greatest possible number of things in the shortest possible time. Don't try to do tomorrow's or next week's work today. It's not the number of things you do, but the quality, the efficiency of each separate action that count. To achieve this "habit of success," you need only to focus on the most important tasks and succeed in each small task of each day.

Have a time and place for everything, and do everything in its time and place, and you will not only accomplish more, but have far more leisure than those who are always hurrying.

If you don't have time, the truth is, you don't have priorities. Think harder; don't work harder.

If any of those times you rushed around madly - trying to get somewhere faster - had ever made any real difference in the quality of your life... don't you think you'd be able to slow down by now?

While the work or play is on, it is a lot of fun if while you are doing one you don't constantly feel that you ought to be doing the other.