FastSaying

The beginning of love is the will to let those we love be perfectly themselves, the resolution not to twist them to fit our own image. If in loving them we do not love what they are, but only their potential likeness to ourselves, then we do not love them: we only love the reflection of ourselves we find in them

Thomas Merton

Thomas Merton

friendshiploveself-discoverytrusttruth

Related Quotes

What can we gain by sailing to the moon if we are not able to cross the abyss that separates us from ourselves? This is the most important of all voyages of discovery, and without it, all the rest are not only useless, but disastrous...
— Thomas Merton
DiscoveryMoon
What happens this weekend stays between us. We set the rules.
— Jayson James
friendship-and-loveself-discovery
The first step toward finding God, Who is Truth, is to discover the truth about myself: and if I have been in error, this first step to truth is the discovery of my error.
— Thomas Merton
AboutBeenDiscover
If I speak to thee in friendship's name, thou think'st I speak too coldly, if I mention love's devoted flame, thou say'st I speak too boldly
— Thomas More
BoldFriendshipInspirational
We have the choice of two identities: the external mask which seems to be real...and the hidden, inner person who seems to us to be nothing, but who can give himself eternally to the truth in whom he subsists. (295)
— Thomas Merton
false-selfhidden-feelingsmark