Thomas Merton Quotes

True love is selfless. It is prepared to sacrifice.

The exercise of benevolence is joy to loving hearts: the more pain it costs, the more joy it is. Kind actions make us happy, and in such joy we find communion with the great heart of Jesus.

Love consists in giving without getting in return; in giving what is not owed, what is not due the other. That's why true love is never based, as associations for utility or pleasure are, on a fair exchange.

I live for those who love me, for those who know me true, for the heaven so blue above me, and the good that I can do.

It's such a magnificent thing to be able to love someone and expect nothing from them.

Lord, grant that I might not so much seek to be loved as to love.

Love seeketh not itself to please, nor for itself hath any care, but for another gives its ease, and builds a Heaven in Hell's despair.

If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.

You know it's love when all you want is that person to be happy, even if you're not part of their happiness.

Love is when each person is more concerned for the other than for one's self.

Caregiving has no second agendas or hidden motives. The care is given from love for the joy of giving without expectation, no strings attached.

Pure love is a willingness to give without a thought of receiving anything in return.

If my love is without sacrifice, it is selfish. Such a love is barter, for there is exchange of love and devotion in return for something. It is conditional love.

Love is not a feeling of happiness. Love is a willingness to sacrifice.

Love is when the other person's happiness is more important than your own.

The Dalai Lama said that he thinks mother's love is the best symbol for love and compassion, because it is totally disinterested.

If we would build on a sure foundation in friendship, we must love friends for their sake rather than for our own.

He who loves with purity considers not the gift of the lover, but the love of the giver.

Love wasn't put in your heart to stay. Love isn't love until you give it away.

However it is debased or misinterpreted, love is a redemptive feature. To focus on one individual so that their desires become superior to yours is a very cleansing experience.

I want to be that person who could sacrifice everything for others.

To love one person with a private love is poor and miserable: to love all is glorious.

Love is sacrifice.

True love is quiescent, except in the nascent moments of true humility.

Improv requires one thing I lack that I think most mothers need - the basic instinct to put someone else first.