Thomas Merton Quotes

In the way of God, thoughts count very little. Love does it all.

Surrender is just like love. That's why I say only lovers can become sannyasins - because they know a little of how to surrender. Love is the first step towards the divine, surrender is the last. And two steps is the whole journey.

Every genuine expression of love grows out of a consistent and total surrender to God.

The most important thing that happens within Christian spirituality is when a person falls in love with Jesus.

If you must be mad, be it not for the things of the world. Be mad with the love of God.

Plant the love of the holy ones within your spirit; don't give your heart to anything, but the love of those whose hearts are glad.

Then, certainly, to be a Christian is to love God above all, and our neighbour as ourselves.

That's all I want in life is to be remembered as a guy that really loved God.

I want women to love Jesus! That is what I would give every single thing I have for, every earthly good I've got. That is the greatest desire of my heart.

Spiritual direction is an interpersonal relationship in which we learn how to grow, live, and love in the spiritual life.

You wish me to tell you why and how God should be loved. My answer is that God himself is the reason he is to be loved.

Our desires, be they spiritual or temporal, should be rooted in a love of the Lord.

I talk to God every single day. And I say, 'God, my life is in your hands, and I trust you with me.'

Whenever we think of Christ, we should recall the love that led Him to bestow on us so many graces and favors, and also the great love God showed in giving us in Christ a pledge of His love; for love calls for love in return. Let us strive to keep this always before our eyes and to rouse ourselves to love Him.

The great commandment of life is to love the Lord.

This is love: to fly toward a secret sky, to cause a hundred veils to fall each moment. First to let go of life. Finally, to take a step without feet.

God comes first - if I don't love him, I can't love anybody, and if I can't love me I can't love nobody.

The knowledge of God is very far from the love of Him.

All grace grows as Love to the Word of God grows.

Christian, learn from Christ how you ought to love Christ. Learn a love that is tender, wise, strong; love with tenderness, not passion, wisdom, not foolishness, and strength, lest you become weary and turn away from the love of the Lord.

A key to everything is surrender - to really come before the Lord and say, 'I will literally stay here as long as you want me to stay' or 'God, I will really go anywhere on the earth.'

Christianity has done a great deal for love by making a sin of it.

I most certainly believe that it is the gift of God that I am what I am. And so I dwell amongst barbarians, a proselyte and an exile, for the love of God.

'Illusion' is a story of God's love and our hunger to find him when we're separated from him. If I can paint a picture of two people still in love after 40 years, that's a pretty good message.

Love is an emotional feeling on a human level and a faith experience on a supernatural level.