Thomas Merton Quotes

When you start to find balance, then you start to ask more important questions, like, 'Who am I really?' That's when you start seeing that every single person around you is a human being just doing the best that they can.

We cannot have peace among men whose hearts find delight in killing any living creature.

Peace is not something you wish for, � it is something you make, something you are, something you do,�and something you give away.

Let us use love and compassion. Peace begins with a smile. Smile five times a day at someone you don't really want to smile at at all. Do it for peace.

To live out of understanding is compassion. Never try to practice it, simply relax deep into meditation. Be in a state of let-go in meditation and suddenly you will be able to smell the fragrance that is coming from your own innermost depth. Then the flower blossoms and compassion spreads. Meditation is the flower and compassion is its fragrance.

The waves of hatred-night can easily be dissolved in the sea of oneness-love.

...When you can look into the face of human beings and you have enough light to recognize them as your brothers and sisters. Up until then it is night and darkness is still with us. Let us pray for the light. It is the peace the world cannot give.

Most of your suffering comes from the lack of understanding of yourself and others.

Peace and love, peace and love!

The practice of peace and reconciliation is one of the most vital and artistic of human actions.

There is always a certain peace in being what one is, in being that completely.

No one can find inner peace except by working, not in a self- centered way, but for the whole human family.

To injure an opponent is to injure yourself. To control aggression without inflicting injury is the Art of Peace.

Better than a thousand hollow words, is one word that brings peace.

I've been practising Buddhism for forty years, and that's what has led me to this path of discovering my own humanity and recognizing the humanity in others.

I used to wonder if it was God's plan that I should be alone for so much of my life. But I found peace. I found happiness within people and the world.

Peace is not made at the council table or by treaties, but in the hearts of men.

Smiling is very important. If we are not able to smile, then the world will not have peace. It is not by going out for a demonstration against nuclear missiles that we can bring about peace. It is with our capacity of smiling, breathing, and being peace that we can make peace.

When we respect everybody around us, we are in peace with everybody around us.

The tragedy of life is in what dies inside a man while he lives - the death of genuine feeling, the death of inspired response, the awareness that makes it possible to feel the pain or the glory of other men in yourself.

Did I offer peace today? Did I bring a smile to someone's face? Did I say words of healing? Did I let go of my anger and resentment? Did I forgive? Did I love? These are the real questions. I must trust that the little bit of love that I sow now will bear many fruits, here in this world and the life to come.

Join me in my quest for a greater understanding of our existence. Join me in my desire for a greater self. Join me as I seek the humility to love and understand my fellow man.

I might have some character traits that some might see as innocence or naive. That's because I discovered peace and happiness in my soul. And with this knowledge, I also see the beauty of human life.

Jesus said, 'Blessed are the peacemakers.' And I think a lot of people don't understand that there's a difference between a peace lover and a peacemaker. Everybody loves peace, but wearing jewelry around your neck and saying 'I love peace' doesn't bring it.

When we have ceased to love the stench of the human animal, either in others or in ourselves, then are we condemned to misery, and clear thinking can begin.