Thomas Merton Quotes

The day you settle for less is the day you will get less.

There's a significant difference between greed and hunger. When you're greedy, you just want things. That's your only need. But when you're hungry for things, it's a mixture of need and want, which is more logical to me.

Greedy actors should never be satisfied.

Our nature hardly allows us to have enough of anything without having too much.

I always want more.

Why do so manysettle for so little? I don't understand why they're not greedy for what's inside them.

The hardest thing is to take less when you can get more.

There is no austerity equal to a balanced mind, and there is no happiness equal to contentment; there is no disease like covetousness, and no virtue like mercy.

Somebody once said we never know what is enough until we know what's more than enough.

I should have been smart enough to stay happy. But my ambition ruled my life.

If I had known what it would be like to have it all - I might have been willing to settle for less.

Good enough never is.

Success is about enjoying what you have and where you are, while pursuing achievable goals.

The point is that you can't be too greedy.

It is difficult, if not impossible, to define the limit of our reasonable desires in respect of possessions.

People tend to settle for the fiver rather than going for the pot of gold.

I know what I want from life and how to get it. That doesn't mean I'll go to any limits to get that. If I get it great, if I don't, it's still fine.

If aught be worse than failure from overstress of a life's prime purpose, it is to sit down content with a little success.

You are what you settle for.

Being realistic is the most commonly travelled road to mediocracy

Success is the brand on the brow of the man who aimed too low.

The more difficult question for me is, do you remain successful for what you had done? I don't know. I think success is in your own eyes. But, I don't really want to ever feel like I've achieved success. Because then I'd be spoiled. I want to feel like I need to keep doing more. Maybe I get "content," "settled," and "success" confused. I never want to settle, but I would love to be content.

The avarice person is ever in want; let your desired aim have a fixed limit.

If your standards are low, you're going to stop pretty early on in the process.

You are what you settle for. You are only as much as you settle for.