Thomas Merton Quotes

My friend, you thought you lost Him; that all your life you've been separated from Him. Filled with wonder, you've always looked outside for Him, and haven't searched within your own house.

We don't know all the reasons that propel us on a spiritual journey, but somehow our life compels us to go.

The search for God is indeed, an entirely personal undertaking.... the most audacious adventure that one can dare.

How far have I to go to find you in whom I have already arrived.

I think that we all at some point are in search of something - a higher power, whatever you want to call it, the meaning of life. I know I was, especially at even my son's age in my 20s, and dabbling in Eastern philosophies and yoga and Buddhism and Christianity and Islam. I kind of touched them all, you know, just trying to figure out the meaning of life or if nothing else, figure myself out.

I never pigeonhole myself into any religion, but I feel it has found me. I am trying to make sense of it... the essence of the Mathangi concept.

I have not had time to reflect on my own truths in many years.

For me, the martial arts is a search for something inside. It's not just a physical discipline.

I found thee not, O Lord, without, because I erred in seeking thee without that wert within.

People just overshoot trying to find God. They're going outside and trying everything. They don't realize that it's right inside themselves.

God puts certain things in certain people. I'm a restless soul. I'm always searching. I'm always pressing to find what truth is and what life is all about.

My whole life I've been a seeker, searching for something.

I didn't really have a religious upbringing in my life, which was tough at times because I was searching for some kind of meaning, but it also gave me an avenue to find my own sense of connection.

Love God and find him within - the only treasure worth finding.

Our life is not given to us like an opera libretto, in which all is written down; but it means going, walking, doing, searching, seeing.... We must enter into the adventure of the quest for meeting God; we must let God search and encounter us.

The seeker asking, Where is God? Is really God saying, Where indeed is the seeker!

We are on a journey to keep an appointment with whatever we are.

Every walk is a sort of crusade, preached by some Peter the Hermit in us.

The spiritual quest begins, for most people, as a search for meaning.

The spiritual journey is not about acquiring something outside yourself, rather, you are penetrating deep layers and veils to return to the deepest truth of your own being.

For me, the spiritual quest will be a life-long work in progress.

If I could persuade myself that I could find Him in a Himalayan cave I would proceed there immediately.

Those to whom worshiping is a window, to open but also to shut, have not yet visited the house of their souls whose windows are open from dawn to dawn.

Spirituality means seeking experience. Not just belief.