“Love is our true destiny. We do not find the meaning of life by ourselves alone – we find it with another.” and
“The beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves and not to twist them to fit our own image. Otherwise we love only the reflection of ourselves we find in them.” – Thomas Merton (January 31, 1915 to December 10, 1968)
[Both quotations are Merton’s].
Merton was a Catholic writer and a Trappist monk at the Gethsemani Abbey in Kentucky. Additionally, he was a poet and activist. Significantly, he engaged in dialogue with other religious and spiritual leaders around the globe.
[Sources: quotations in ThinkExist.com; biographical information known to me and verified along with dates through use of Wikipedia].
Andrew Shattuck McBride, Writer's Blog 
Beautiful and true.
Thomas Merton was amazing.