Thomas Merton Quotes

'Tis no sin to cheat the devil.

Satan’s successes are the greatest when he appears with the name of God on his lips.

Where dance is, there is the devil.

The Devil may also make use of morality.

The devil always has the better tunes!

Pride is the master sin of the devil, and the devil is the father of lies.

He incurs a fearful amount of guilt who in the least promotes the aim of the Evil One by trampling upon a tender conscience in a child.

Beauty and the devil are the same thing.

The devil made me do it.

The more sin is rationalized, the greater the possibility of destruction by Satan's wolves.

Anyone who tells you to deny yourself is from Satan.

The Deceiver can magnify a little sin for the purpose of causing one to worry, torture, and kill oneself with it. This is why a Christian should learn not to let anyone easily create an evil conscience in him. Rather let him say, "This error and this failing pass away with my other imperfections and sins, which I must include in the article of faith: I believe in the forgiveness of sins.

On the whole, we treat the Devil shamefully, and the worse we treat Him the more He laughs at us.

The devil doesn't fill us with hatred for God, but with forgetfulness of God.

When devils will the blackest sins put on They do suggest at first with heavenly shows

Like sin itself, Satan appeals to the senses. He originated and perfected the art of disguising evil as good.

The Devil is easy to identify. He appears when you're terribly tired and makes a very reasonable request which you know you shouldn't grant.

You little know what you have done, when you have first broke the bounds of modesty; you have set open the door of your fancy to the devil, so that he can, almost at his pleasure ever after, represent the same sinful pleasure to you anew.

Before the sin, Satan assures us that it is of no consequence; after the sin, he persuades us that it is unforgivable.

When the devil is called the god of this world, it is not because he made it, but because we serve him with our worldliness.

You go up to the devil and ask if he knows he's a sinner and he'll say, "Well, yes I am! And a mighty fine one at that!"

Nay, men are so far from musing of their sins, that they disdain this practise, and scoff at it: what say they, if all were of your mind; what should become of us? Shall we be always poring on our corruptions?

It is so stupid of modern civilisation to have given up believing in the devil when he is the only explanation of it.

The devil's voice is sweet to hear.

The small Satan left and the great Satan came.