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Quotes about Purpose

Do not look for rest in any pleasure, because you were not created for pleasure: you were created for spiritual joy. And if you do not know the difference between pleasure and spiritual joy you have not yet begun to live.
— Thomas Merton
The solution of the problem of life is life itself. Life is not attained by reason and analysis but first of all by living.
— Thomas Merton
Love is our true destiny. We do not find the meaning of life by ourselves alone we find it with another.
— Thomas Merton
It is true that we are called to create a better world. But we are first of all called to a more immediate and exalted task: that of creating our own lives.
— Thomas Merton
What do you want to want to be, anyway? I don't know; I guess what I want to be is a good Catholic. What you should say--he told me--what you should say is that you want to be a saint.
— Thomas Merton
In all His acts God orders all things, whether good or evil, for the good of those who know Him and seek Him and who strive to bring their own freedom under obedience to His divine purpose. All that is done by the will of God in secret is done for His glory and for the good of those whom He has chosen to share in His glory.
— Thomas Merton
Finally, I am coming to the conclusion that my highest ambition is to be what I already am.
— Thomas Merton
Because You have called me here not to wear a label by which I can recognize myself and place myself in some kind of a category. You do not want me to be thinking about what I am, but about what You are. Or rather, You do not even want me to be thinking about anything much: for You would raise me above the level of thought. And if I am always trying to figure out what I am and where I am and why I am, how will that work be done?
— Thomas Merton
If you want to identify me, he says to the British officers who are questioning him, ask me not where I live, or what I like to eat, or how I comb my hair, but ask me what I think I am living for, in detail, and ask me what I think is keeping me from living fully for the thing I want to live for. Between these two answers you can determine the identity of any person. page 25 in the book called, The Man in the Sycamore Tree by Edward Rice
— Thomas Merton
What every man looks for in life is his own salvation and the salvation of the men he lives with. By salvation I mean first of all the full discovery of who he himself really is.
— Thomas Merton
Means and Ends The purpose of a fish trap Is to catch fish, And when the fish are caught The trap is forgotten. The purpose of a rabbit snare Is to catch rabbits. When the rabbits are caught The snare is forgotten. The purpose of words Is to convey ideas. When the ideas are grasped The words are forgotten. Where can I find a man Who has forgotten words? He is the one I would like to talk to.
— Thomas Merton
For our duties and our needs, in all the fundamental things for which we were created, come down in practice to the same thing.
— Thomas Merton