‘I wonder sometimes if the teacher is not the real student and beneficiary’ (George Steiner)
No matter where in the world he may be, no matter what may be his power of protest, or his means of expression, the poet finds himself ultimately where I am. Alone, silent, with the obligation of being very careful not to say what he does not mean, not to let himself be persuaded to say merely what another wants him to say, not to say what his own past work has led others to expect him to say.
Thomas Merton, Dancing in the Water of Life: Seeking Peace in the Hermitage
The fields will laugh, the woods will be drunk with flowers of rebellion, the night will make every fool sing in his sleep, and the morning will make him stand up in the sun and cover himself with water and with light.
Thomas Merton, Raids on the Unspeakable
Be anything you like …, but at all costs avoid one thing: success …. If you are too obsessed with success, you will forget to live. If you have learned only how to be a success, your life has probably been wasted.
Thomas Merton, Love and Living
Karl Möller 