No Man Is An Island Quotes From the Book on Spiritual Reflection

If you are interested in living your richest and fullest life, check out these No Man Is An Island quotes!

No Man Is an Island is a book written by religious scholar Thomas Merton and was first published in 1955.

Merton gathered his reflections through prayer and research during his life as a monk at the Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani, where he became a very influential Catholic author.

No Man Is an Island is a compilation of Merton’s beliefs that he had shared and altered through talks with the Dalai Lama XIV, Nhat Hanh, Robert Lax, and others.

The book is split into sixteen essays focusing on meditating as part of our spiritual lives.

Take a look at these No Man Is An Island quotes to learn more about this insightful book.

You will also enjoy our article on It Ends With Us quotes.

Best No Man Is An Island Quotes

Here are some of the most popular quotes from the book.

1. “A man who fails well is greater than one who succeeds badly.” — Thomas Merten

2. “God, who is everywhere, never leaves us.” — Thomas Merten

3. “A man who fails well is greater than one who succeeds badly.” — Thomas Merten

4. “Only the man who has had to face despair is really convinced that he needs mercy.” — Thomas Merten

5. “Every man becomes the image of the God he adores.” — Thomas Merten

6. “Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.” — Thomas Merten

7. “He who loves things that must perish lives in dread of their perishing.” — Thomas Merten

8. “We are obliged to love one another. We are not strictly bound to ‘like’ one another.” — Thomas Merten

9. “A life that is without problems may literally be more hopeless than one that always verges on despair.” — Thomas Merten

10. “Music is pleasing not only because of the sound but because of the silence that is in it: without the alteration of sound and silence, there would be no rhythm.” — Thomas Merten

11. “The man who fears to be alone will never be anything but lonely, no matter how much he may surround himself with people.” — Thomas Merten

12. “We are not all weak in the same spots, and so we supplement and complete one another, each one making up in himself for the lack in another.” — Thomas Merten

13. “The greatest temptations are not those that solicit our consent to obvious sin, but those that offer us great evils masking as the greatest goods.” — Thomas Merten

Wise No Man Is An Island Quotes to Learn From

These quotes share Thomas Merten’s perspective and lessons to apply to life.

14. “The real reason why so few men believe in God is that they have ceased to believe that even a God can love them.” — Thomas Merten

15. “It is better to find God on the threshold of despair than to risk our lives in a complacency that has never felt the need of forgiveness.” — Thomas Merten

16. “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 images.” — Thomas Merten

17. “It is useless to try to make peace with ourselves by being pleased with everything we have done. In order to settle down in the quiet of our own being, we must learn to be detached from the results of our own activity.” — Thomas Merten

18. “As long as we secretly adore ourselves, our own deficiencies will remain to torture us with an apparent defilement. But if we live for others, we will gradually discover that no one expects us to be ‘as gods’.” — Thomas Merten

19. “For each one of us, there is only one thing necessary: to fulfill our own destiny, according to God’s will, to be what God wants us to be.” — Thomas Merten

20. “For each one of us, there is only one thing necessary: to fulfill our own destiny, according to God’s will, to be what God wants us to be.” — Thomas Merten

Spiritual No Man Is An Island Quotes

Thomas Merten shares his thoughts on life and God through quotes like the ones below.

21. “It is better to be a good street sweeper than a bad writer, better to be a good bartender than a bad doctor, and the repentant thief who died with Jesus on Calvary was far more perfect than the holy ones who had Him nailed to the cross.” — Thomas Merten

22. “We must be content to live without watching ourselves live, to work without expecting any immediate reward, to love without an instantaneous satisfaction, and to exist without any special recognition.” — Thomas Merten

23. “Such a one is alone with God in all places, and he alone truly enjoys the companionship of other men, because he loves them in God in Whom their presence is not tiresome, and because of Whom his own love for them can never know satiety.” — Thomas Merten

24. “It is therefore of supreme importance that we consent to live not for ourselves but for others. When we do this, we will be able first of all to face and accept our own limitations.” — Thomas Merten

25. “But the man who is not afraid to admit everything that he sees to be wrong with himself, and yet recognizes that he may be the object of God’s love precisely because of his shortcomings, can begin to be sincere. His sincerity is based on confidence, not in his own illusions about himself, but in the endless, unfailing mercy of God.” — Thomas Merten

What Questions Does the Book Help Answer?

No Man Is an Island is a book about spiritual reflection or meditation to find the meaning of life so that you can live your most fulfilling life.

The book also highlights the importance of being connected to others through community, as that is the basis of the spiritual life.

Please share these No Man Is An Island quotes with your family and friends interested in finding out more about the meaning of life and post any comments about the book in the comment section.