The importance of detachment from things, the importance of poverty, is that we are supposed to be free from things that we might prefer to people. Wherever things have become more important than people, we are in trouble. That is the crux of the whole matter.


Thomas Merton in Alaska (ed. New Directions Publishing, 1989) - ISBN: 9780811210386

Thomas Merton Quotes

The importance of detachment from things, the importance of poverty, is that we are supposed to be free from things that we might prefer to people....

The importance of detachment from things, the importance of poverty, is that we are supposed to be free from things that we might prefer to people....

The importance of detachment from things, the importance of poverty, is that we are supposed to be free from things that we might prefer to people....

The importance of detachment from things, the importance of poverty, is that we are supposed to be free from things that we might prefer to people....