Original artwork, not a still
No Man Is An Island ‧ 1955
Pride makes us artificial and humility makes us real.
Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
Merton's point is that pride is a performance and humility is the end of performing: the proud person spends energy maintaining an image, while the humble one can stop pretending and simply be who he is. It has become a staple of inspirational quote collections and is often posted next to talk of authenticity, though the quotation loses the monastic setting in which Merton meant it.
Context reviewed
In context
Spoilers for No Man Is An IslandShow the scene
The line comes from No Man Is an Island, a book by Thomas Merton, the American Trappist monk (1915-1968) of the Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani in Kentucky. Harcourt Brace published it in 1955, six years after Merton's ordination as a priest in 1949. It is a book of meditations on the inner life written in his own voice, not a story with scenes, and the sentence is Merton's own reflection on pride and humility. Its title borrows John Donne's famous line from his Devotions upon Emergent Occasions (1624).
Sources (2)
- Wikipedia: Thomas MertonInfobox (occupation, ordination date) and bibliographyReference checked
- Wikipedia: Thomas Merton bibliographyBooks listReference checked
Context reviewed
