Hurry ruins saints as well as artists. They want quick success, and they are in such a hurry to get it that they cannot take time to be true to themselves. And when the madness is upon them, they argue that their very haste is a species of integrity.
Interpretation
Haste can lead to a lack of authenticity and true quality in one's work.
Thomas Merton's quote highlights the detrimental effects of haste in the pursuit of success for both saints and artists. It suggests that in the rush to achieve quick results, individuals often compromise their integrity and authenticity, mistaking their frantic pace for genuine commitment. The quote serves as a reminder that true success requires patience and a steadfast loyalty to one's true self rather than succumbing to the pressures of immediate gratification.
In practice
In a speech about the importance of authenticity in art, one might say, 'As Thomas Merton wisely noted, hurry ruins saints as well as artists.'
The devil is no fool. He can get people feeling about heaven the way they ought to feel about hell. He can make them fear the means of grace the way they do not fear sin. And he does so, not by light but by obscurity, not by realities but by shadows; not by clarity and substance, but by dreams and the creatures of psychosis. And men are so poor in intellect that a few cold chills down their spine will be enough to keep them from ever finding out the truth about anything.
Our vocation is not simply to be, but to work together with God in the creation of our own life, our own identity, our own destiny....To work out our identity in God.
Conscience is the light by which we interpret the will of God in our own lives.
You are made in the image of what you desire.
But if you want to identify me, 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.
I have the immense joy of being man, a member of a race in which God Himself became incarnate. As if the sorrows and stupidities of the human condition could overwhelm me, now that I realize what we all are. And if only everybody could realize this! But it cannot be explained. There is no way of telling people that they are all walking around shining like the sun.
If wisdom were offered me with this restriction, that I should keep it close and not communicate it, I would refuse the gift.
Oh, Adam’s sons, how cleverly you defend yourselves against all that might do you good!
A man finds he has been wrong at every stage of his career, only to deduce the astonishing conclusion that he is at last entirely right.
Never seem wiser, nor more learned, than the people you are with. Wear your learning, like your watch, in a private pocket: and do not merely pull it out and strike it; merely to show that you have one.
Find the sweetness in your own heart, then you may find the sweetness in every heart.
This wise man observed that wealth is a tool of freedom. But the pursuit of wealth is the way to slavery.
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