Inspirational Quotes by Thomas Merton

“Practica las artes marciales, calcula la fuerza de tus adversarios, haz que pierdan su ánimo y dirección, de manera que aunque el ejército enemigo esté intacto sea inservible: esto es ganar sin violencia.”

“cuando te conoces a ti mismo y conoces a los demás, la victoria no es un peligro; cuando conoces el cielo y la tierra, la victoria es inagotable.”

“no combatas en un terreno de dispersión, no te detengas en un terreno ligero, no ataques en un terreno clave (ocupado por el enemigo), no dejes que tus tropas sean divididas en un terreno de comunicación. En terrenos de intersección establece comunicaciones; en terrenos difíciles, entra aprovisionado; en terrenos desfavorables, continúa marchando; en terrenos cercados, haz planes; en terrenos mortales, lucha.”

“was profound insight of a spiritual nature that could help me live my everyday life unconstrained by conflict, either with others or within myself. These”

“Generally in the case of armies you wish to strike, cities you wish to attack, and people you wish to assassinate, you must know the names of the garrison commander, the staff officers, the ushers, gate keepers, and the bodyguards. You must instruct your agents to inquire into these matters in minute detail. If you wish to conduct offensive war you must know the men employed by the enemy. Are they wise or stupid, clever or clumsy? Having assessed their qualities, you prepare appropriate measures.”

“طور قدرات مرؤوسيك: إن كنت واثقا من نفسك فعليك أن تثق بقدرات الآخرين أجب عن الطلبات ناصحا لكن لاتخض في التفاصيل بل اتركها لهم.”

“Sitúa a tus tropas en un punto que no tenga salida, de manera que tengan que morir antes de poder escapar. Porque, ante la posibilidad de la muerte, ¿qué no estarán dispuestas a hacer? Los guerreros dan entonces lo mejor de sus fuerzas. Cuando se hallan ante un grave peligro, pierden el miedo.Cuando no hay ningún sitio a donde ir, permanecen firmes; cuando están totalmente implicados en un terreno, se aferran a él. Si no tienen otra opción, lucharán hasta el final.”

“La psicología de los soldados consiste en resistir cuando se ven rodeados, luchar cuando no se puede evitar y obedecer en casos extremos.”

“El día en que se declara la guerra, se cierran las fronteras, se rompen los salvoconductos y se impide el paso de emisarios.”

“Z tego powodu armia triumfująca najpierw określa warunki zwycięstwa, a dopiero potem podejmuje działania prowadzące do bitwy. Armia pokonana najpierw staje do walki, a potem szuka zwycięstwa.”

“La ira puede cambiar con el tiempo a alegría; el enojo puede ser reemplazado por el contento.”

“la utilización del fuego para apoyar un ataque significa claridad, y la utilización del agua para apoyar un ataque significa fuerza. El agua puede incomunicar, pero no puede arrasar.”

“Love is our destiny. We do not find the meaning of life by ourselves alone, we find it with another.”

“The beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves, and not to twist our own image. Otherwise we love only the reflection of ourselves we find in them.”

“When the angel spoke, God awoke in the heart of this girl of Nazareth and moved within her like a giant. He stirred and opened His eyes and her soul and saw that in containing Him she contained the world besides. The Annunciation was not so much a vision as an earthquake in which God moved the universe and unsettled the spheres, and the beginning and end of all things came before her in her deepest heart. And far beneath the movement of this silent cataclysm she slept in the infinite tranquility of God, and God was a child curled up who slept in her and her veins were flooded with His wisdom which is night, which is starlight, which is silence. And her whole being was embraced in Him whom she embraced and they became tremendous silence." -Thomas Merton”

“Our landlord, Mr. Duggan, ran a nearby saloon. He got in trouble with Father for helping himself to the rhubarb which we were growing in the garden. I remember the grey summer dusk in which this happened. We were at the supper table, when the bended Mr. Duggan was observed, like some whale in the sea of green rhubarb, plucking up the red stalks. Father rose to his feet and hastened out into the garden. I could hear indignant words. We sat at the supper table, silent, not eating, and when Father returned I began to question him, and to endeavour to work out the morality of the situation. And I still remember it as having struck me as a difficult case, with much to be said on both sides. In fact, I had assumed that if the landlord felt like it, he could simply come and harvest all our vegetables, and there was nothing we could do about it. I mention this with the full consciousness that someone will use it against me, and say that the real reason I became a monk in later years was that I had the mentality of a medieval serf when I was barely out of the cradle.”

“A saint is not someone who is good but someone who experiences the goodness of God.”

“There is in all visible things an invisible fecundity, a dimmed light, a meek namelessness, a hidden wholeness. This mysterious Unity and Integrity is Wisdom, the Mother of all, Natura Naturans. There is in all things an inexhaustible sweetness and purity, a silence that is a fountain of action and of joy. It rises up in wordless gentleness and flows out to me from the unseen roots of all created being...”

“There is only now.”

“If a writer is so cautious that he never writes anything that cannot be criticized, he will never be able to write anything that can be read. If you want to help other people you have got to make up your mind to write things that some men will condemn.”