Teresa of avila quotes

Be happy when you are blamed and accused wrongly, for then you have the chance to see all the bitter, hostile or self-pitying responses that your sinful soul wants to spew out - as if these puny things could in any way defend you! Watch and see if any of these poisons come out of you when your spirit is pricked by an accusation. Only then can you see yourself as you are, and confess thy sin that is within you and forsake yourself again into the Lord's care.

I thought of the soul as resembling a castle, formed of a single diamond or a very transparent crystal, and containing many rooms, just as in Heaven there are many mansions.

There is more value in a little study of humility and in a single act of it than in all the knowledge in the world.

Christ has no body now but mine. He prays in me, works in me, looks through my eyes, speaks through my words, works through my hands, walks with my feet and loves with my heart.

The surest way to determine whether one possesses the love of God is to see whether he or she loves his or her neighbor. These two loves are never separated. Rest assured, the more you progress in love of neighbor the more your love of God will increase.

People in the world pay little heed to reason where their own interests are involved.

Strive to close the eyes of the body and open those of the soul and look into your own heart.

The life of the spirit is not our life, but the life of God within us.

Out of suffering comes the serious mind; out of salvation, the grateful heart; out of endurance, fortitude; out of deliverance faith. Patient endurance attends to all things.

If you fall sometimes, you must not be discouraged.

Let nothing disturb thee, let nothing affright thee. All things are passing. Patience obtains all things. He who has God has everything - God alone suffices.

We always find that those who walked closest to Christ were those who had to bear the greatest trials.

Every part of the journey is of importance to the whole.

Truth suffers, but never dies.

Her heart is full of joy with love, for in the Lord her mind is stilled. She has renounced every selfish attachment and draws abiding joy and strength from the One within. She lives not for herself, but lives to serve the Lord of Love in all, and swims across the sea of life breasting its rough waves joyfully.

Discontent with this world gives such a painful longing to quit it that, if the heart finds comfort, it is solely from the thought that God wishes it to remain here in banishment.

Mental prayer is nothing else but being on terms of friendship with God, frequently conversing in secret with Him.

Don't be curious of matters that don't concern you; never speak of them, and don't ask about them.

How is it that we do not die of love in seeing that God Himself could do no more than shed His divine blood for us drop by drop? When as man He was preparing for death, He made Himself our food in order to give us life. God becomes food, bread for his creatures. Is this not enough to make us die of love?

They deceive themselves who believe that union with God consists in ecstasies or raptures, and in the enjoyment of Him. For it consists in nothing except the surrender and subjection of our will - with our thoughts, words and actions - to the will of God.

About the injunction of the Apostle Paul that women should keep silent in church? Don't go by one text only.

God deliver me from people who are so spiritual that they want to turn everything into perfect contemplation, come what may.

What a great favor God does to those He places in the company of good people!

To have courage for whatever comes in life - everything lies in that.

Untilled ground, however rich, will bring forth thistles and thorns; so also the mind of man.

Souls who do not practice prayer are like people whose limbs are paralyzed.

Teach by works more than words.

[Last words:] My Lord, it is time to move on. Well then, may your will be done. O my Lord and my Spouse, the hour that I have longed for has come. It is time to meet one another.

It should be observed that perfect love of God consists not in those delights, tears and sentiments of devotion that we generally seek, but in a strong determination and keen desire to please God in all things, and to promote His glory.

Our body has this defect that, the more it is provided care and comforts, the more needs and desires it finds.

Christ has no body now on earth but yours, no hands, no feet but yours. Yours are the eyes with which Christ looks out his compassion to the world. Yours are the feet with which he is to go about doing good. Yours are the hands with which he is to bless us now.

Christ does not force our will, He only takes what we give Him. But He does not give Himself entirely until He sees that we yield ourselves entirely to Him.

Let there be no disappointment when obedience keeps you busy in outward tasks. If it sends you to the kitchen, remember that the Lord walks among the pots and pans.

We shall never learn to know ourselves except by endeavoring to know God; for, beholding His greatness we realize our own littleness; His purity shows us our foulness; and by meditating upon His humility we find how very far we are from being humble.

We need no wings to go in search of Him, but have only to look upon Him present within us.

All the troubles of the Church, all the evils in the world, flow from this source: that men do not by clear and sound knowledge and serious consideration penetrate into the truths of Sacred Scripture.

For pity's sake, don't start meeting troubles halfway.

Mental prayer in my opinion is nothing else than an intimate sharing between friends; it means taking time frequently to be alone with Him who we know loves us. The important thing is not to think much but to love much and so do that which best stirs you to love. Love is not great delight but desire to please God in everything.

Never do anything which you could not do in the sight of all.

If you seek to carry no other crosses but those whose reason you understand, perfection is not for you.

It is a dangerous thing to be satisfied with ourselves.

There are more tears shed over answered prayers than over unanswered prayers.

If we plant a flower or a shrub and water it daily it will grow so tall that in time we shall need a spade and a hoe to uproot it. It is just so, I think, when we commit a fault, however small, each day, and do not cure ourselves of it.

When we accept what happens to us and make the best of it, we are praising God.

Love draws forth love.

Do not think you have gained a virtue unless you have first been tried by its opposite.

God is even kinder than you think.

Be kind to all and severe to thyself.

If we practice love of neighbor with great perfection, we will have done everything.

The closer one approaches to God, the simpler one becomes.

Never compare one person with another: comparisons are odious.

Love turns work into rest.

True perfection consists in the love of God and our neighbour, and the better we keep both these commandments, the more perfect we shall be.

If Christ Jesus dwells in a man as his friend and noble leader, that man can endure all things, for Christ helps and strengthens us and never abandons us. He is a true friend.

Desire to see God, be fearful of losing Him, and find joy in everything that can lead to Him. If you act in this way, you will always live in great peace.

We bloomed in Spring. Our bodies are the leaves of God. The apparent seasons of life and death our eyes can suffer; but our souls, dear, I will just say this forthright: they are God Himself, we will never perish until He does.

Let us look at our own faults, and not other people's. We ought not to insist on everyone following in our footsteps, nor to take upon ourselves to give instructions in spirituality when, perhaps, we do not even know what it is.

Settle yourself in solitude, and you will come upon God in yourself.

But the fact is, things always seem to come slowly when you are longing for them.

God has been very good to me, for I never dwell upon anything wrong which a person has done, so as to remember it afterwards. If I do remember it, I always see some other virtue in that person.

Let us live in such a way as not to be afraid to die.

To reach something good it is very useful to have gone astray, and thus acquire experience.

How is it, Lord, that we are cowards in everything save in opposing thee?

Happy the heart where love has come to birth.

From heaven even the most miserable life will look like one bad night at an inconvenient hotel.

Trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be.

Whoever has God lacks nothing. God alone suffices.

What a miserable life is this! There is no happiness that is secure and nothing that does not change.

How friendly we should all be with one another if nobody were interested in money and honor.

What peace can we hope to find elsewhere if we have none within us

This body of ours has one fault: the more you indulge it, the more things it discovers to be essential to it. It is extraordinary how it likes being indulged.

It is of great importance, when we begin to practise prayer, not to let ourselves be frightened by our own thoughts.

Granting that we are always in the presence of God, yet it seems to me that those who pray are in His presence in a very different sense; for they, as it were, see that He is looking upon them, while others may go for days on end without even once recollecting that God sees them.

One must not think that a person who is suffering is not praying. He is offering up his sufferings to God, and many a time he is praying much more truly than one who goes away by himself and meditates his head off, and, if he has squeezed out a few tears, thinks that is prayer.

After you die, you wear what you are.

All things pass... Patience attains all it strives for.

However softly we speak, God is near enough to hear us.

From silly devotions and from sour-faced saints, good Lord, deliver us.

Let nothing Disturb you, Let nothing frighten you, Though all things pass, God does not change. Patience wins all things. But he lacks nothing who possesses God; For God alone suffices.

It is true that we cannot be free from sin, but at least let our sins not always be the same.

The saints rejoiced at injuries and persecutions, because in forgiving them they had something to present to God when they prayed to Him.

One always goes on as one begins.

I was living an extremely burdensome life, because every time I prayed, I became more clearly aware of my faults. On the one hand, God was calling me. On the other, I was following the way of the world. Doing what God wanted made me happy; but I felt bound by the things of this world.

Humility must always be doing its work like a bee making honey in the hive: without humility all will be lost.

I am really much more afraid of those people who have so great a fear of the devil, than I am of the devil himself.

No one should think or say anything of another which he would not wish thought or said of himself.

It is the nature of love to work in a thousand different ways.

There is no affliction, trial, or labor difficult to endure, when we consider the torments and sufferings which Our Lord Jesus Christ endured for us.

Those seeking the life of the spirit should be cheerful and free, and not neglect recreation. Married people must act in conformity with their vocation--but their progress will of necessity be but the pace of a hen.

I am afraid that if we begin to put our trust in human help, some of our Divine help will fail us.

Blessed be He, Who came into the world for no other purpose than to suffer.

Life is a night spent in an uncomfortable inn.

The tree that is beside the running water is fresher and gives more fruit.

In light of heaven, the worst suffering on earth will be seen to be no more serious than one night in an inconvenient hotel.

It is love alone that gives worth to all things.

Remember that you have only one soul; that you have only one death to die; that you have only one life. . . . If you do this, there will be many things about which you care nothing.

A beginner must look on himself as one setting out to make a garden for his Lord's pleasure, on most unfruitful soil which abounds in weeds. His Majesty roots up the weeds and will put in good plants instead. Let us reckon that this is already done when the soul decides to practice prayer and has begun to do so.

It is not a matter of thinking a great deal but of loving a great deal, so do whatever arouses you most to love.

It constantly happens that the Lord permits a soul to fall so that it may grow humbler.

Love makes labour light. Love alone gives value to all things.

Prayer is an act of love. Words are not needed.

I made you, dear, and all I make is perfect. Please come close, for I desire you.

Christ has no body now but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he looks compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good. Yours are the hands through which he blesses all the world. Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, yours are the eyes, you are his body. Christ has no body now on earth but yours.

Our souls may lose their peace and even disturb other people's, if we are always criticizing trivial actions - which often are not real defects at all, but we construe them wrongly through our ignorance of their motives.

Consider seriously how quickly people change, and how little trust is to be had in them; and hold fast to God, Who does not change.

Anyone who truly loves God travels securely.

If this is the way You treat Your friends, no wonder You have so few!

Each of us has a soul, but we forget to value it. We don't remember that we are creatures made in the image of God. We don't understand the great secrets hidden inside of us.

I had many friends to help me to fall; but as to rising again, I was so much left to myself, that I wonder now I was not always on the ground. I praise God for His mercy; for it was He only Who stretched out His hand to me. May He be blessed for ever! Amen.

The life of prayer is just love to God, and the custom of being ever with Him.

Let us remember that within us there is a palace of immense magnificence.

He who has God finds he is lacking nothing.

The feeling remains that God is on the journey, too.

All blessings come to us through our Lord. He will teach us, for in beholding His life we find that He is the best example.

Let us consider what the glorious Virgin endured, and what the holy apostles suffered, and we shall find that they who were nearest to Jesus Christ were the most afflicted.

Pain is never permanent.

God has no hands or feet or voice except ours and through these He works.

Suffering is a great favor. Remember that everything soon comes to an end . . . and take courage. Think of how our gain is eternal.

Before prayer, endeavour to realise Whose Presence you are approaching and to Whom you are about to speak, keeping in mind Whom you are addressing. If our lives were a thousand times as long as they are we should never fully understand how we ought to behave towards God, before Whom the very Angels tremble, Who can do all He wills, and with Whom to wish is to accomplish.

May God protect me from gloomy saints.

Always think of yourself as everyone's servant; look for Christ Our Lord in everyone and you will then have respect and reverence for them all.

Prayer is a friendly conversation with the One we know loves us.

As to the aridity you are suffering from, it seems to me our Lord is treating you like someone He considers strong: He wants to test you and see if you love Him as much at times of aridity as when He sends you consolations. I think this is a very great favor for God to show you.

We may speak of love and humility as the true flowers of spiritual growth; and they give off a wonderful scent, which benefits all those who come near.

You pay God a compliment by asking great things of Him.