Therese of lisieux quotes

I am very far from practicing what I understand.

I am not afraid of a fight; I have to do my duty, come what may.

At this time I choseas friends two little girls of my own age; but how shallow are the hearts of creatures! Oneof them had to stay at home for some months; while she was away I thought about her veryoften, and on her return I showed how pleased I was. However, all I got was a glance of indifference-my friendship was not appreciated. I felt this very keenly, and I no longer soughtan affection which had proved so inconstant. Nevertheless I still love my little school friend,and continue to pray for her, for God has given me a faithful heart, and when once I love,I love for ever.

Nothing's done well when it's done out of self-interest.

Suffering is the very best gift He has to give us. He gives it only to His chosen friends.

Love is nourished only by sacrifices, and the more a soul refuses natural satisfactions, the stronger and more disinterested becomes her tenderness.

The value of life does not depend upon the place we occupy. It depends upon the way we occupy that place.

The country in which I live is not my native country, that lies elsewhere, and it must always be the center of my longings.

Love is a universe of its own, comprising all time and space.

If every tiny flower wanted to be a rose, spring would lose its loveliness.

I am simply content to find myself always imperfect, and in this I find my joy. Good deeds count as nothing, if done without love.

Everything is a grace, everything is the direct effect of our Father's love - difficulties, contradictions, humiliations, all the soul's miseries, her burdens, her needs - everything, because through them, she learns humility, realizes her weakness. Everything is a grace because everything is God's gift. Whatever be the character of life or its unexpected events - to the heart that loves, all is well.

I felt it better to speak to God than about Him.

Apart from the Office [the daily prayer of the Church] which is a daily joy, I do not have the courage to search through books for beautiful prayers. ... Unable either to say them all or to choose between them, I do as a child would who cannot read - I just say what I want to say to God, quite simply, and he never fails to understand.

Look at Him while He is looking at you.

Even now I know it: yes, all my hopes will be fulfilled... yes... the Lord will work wonders for me which will surpass infinitely my immeasurable desires.

You know well that Our Lord does not look so much at the greatness of our actions, nor even at their difficulty, as at the love with which we do them.

Love consumes us only in the measure of our self-surrender.

Miss no single opportunity of making some small sacrifice, here by a smiling look, there by a kindly word; always doing the smallest right and doing it all for love.

And it is the Lord, it is Jesus, Who is my judge. Therefore I will try always to think leniently of others, that He may judge me leniently, or rather not at all, since He says: "Judge not, and ye shall not be judged.

Prayer and sacrifice can touch souls better than words.

The science of loving, yes, that's the only kind of science I want I'd barter away everything I possess to win it.

My whole strength lies in prayer and sacrifice, these are my invincible arms; they can move hearts far better than words, I know it by experience.

Let us love, since our heart is made for nothing else.

Let us go forward in peace, our eyes upon heaven, the only one goal of our labors.

Each small task of everyday life is part of the total harmony of the universe.

The great majority of men use their own short-sighted ideas as a yardstick for measuring the divine omnipotence.

If I am despised by the world, If it considers me as nothing, A divine peace flood me. For I have the Host as my support. When I draw near the ciborium, All my sighs are heard... To be nothing is my glory. I am the atom of Jesus.

God would not make me wish for something impossible and so, in spite of my littleness, I can aim at being a saint. It is impossible for me to grow bigger, so I put up with myself as I am, with all my countless faults. But I will look for some means of going to heaven by a little way which is very short and very straight, a little way that is quite new[...] It is your arms, Jesus, which are the lift to carry me to heaven, And so there is no need for me to grow up. In fact, just the opposite: I must stay little and become less and less.

It's true, I suffer a great deal-but do I suffer well? That is the question.

For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy.

He longs to give us a magnificent reward. He knows that suffering is the only means of preparing us to know Him as He knows Himself, and to become ourselves divine.

She is more Mother than Queen.

Prayer for me is an updward leap of the heart

The guest of our soul knows our misery; He comes to find an empty tent within us - that is all He asks.

As the sun shines both on the cedar and the smallest flower, so the Divine sun illumines each soul.

Go often to Holy Communion. Go very often! This is your one remedy.

Trials help us detach ourselves from the earth; they make us look higher than this world.

Jesus needs neither books nor Doctors of Divinity in order to instruct souls; He, the Doctor of Doctors, He teaches without noise of words.

It is only love which makes us acceptable to God.

Perfect love means putting up with other peoples shortcomings, feeling no surprise at their weaknesses, finding encouragement even in the slightest evidence of good qualities in them.

You cannot be half a saint; you must be a whole saint or no saint at all.

Do not fear to tell Jesus that you love Him even without feeling it. That is the way to force Jesus to help you, to carry you like a little child too feeble to walk.

Love proves itself by deeds, so how am I to show my love? Great deeds are forbidden me. The only way I can prove my love is by scattering flowers and these flowers are every little sacrifice, every glance and word, and the doing of the least actions for love.

Love needs to be proved by action.

Trying to do good to people without God's help is no easier than making the sun shine at midnight. You discover that you've got to abandon all your own preferences, your own bright ideas, and guide souls along the road our Lord has marked out for them. You mustn't coerce them into some path of your own choosing.

Why should we defend ourselves when we are misunderstood and misjudged? Let us leave that aside. Let us not say anything. It is so sweet to let others judge us in any way they like. O blessed silence, which gives so much peace to the soul!

We must do everything we are obliged to do; give without reckoning, practice virtue whenever opportunity offers, constantly overcome ourselves, prove our love by all the little acts of tenderness and consideration we can muster. In a word, we must produce all the good works that lie within our strength - out of love for God.

God would never inspire me with desires which cannot be realized; so in spite of my littleness, I can hope to be a saint.

We who run in the way of Love must never torment ourselves about anything. If I did not suffer minute by minute, it would be impossible for me to be patient; but I see only the present moment, I forget the past, and take good care not to anticipate the future. If we grow disheartened, if sometimes we despair, it is because we have been dwelling on the past or the future.

Do you realize that Jesus is there in the tabernacle expressly for you- for you alone? He burns with the desire to come into your heart... don't listen to the demon, laugh at him, and go without fear to receive the Jesus of peace and love.

Holiness is a disposition of the heart that makes us humble and little in the arms of God, aware of our weakness, and confident - in the most audacious way - in His Fatherly goodness.

Much later, when I understood what perfection was, I realized that to become a saint one must suffer a great deal, always seek what is best, and forget oneself. I understood that there were many kinds of of sanctity and that each soul was free to respond to the approaches of Our Lord and to do little or much for Him - in other words,to make a choice among the sacrifices He demands.

Remember that nothing is small in the eyes of God. Do all that you do with love.

He does not call those who are worthy, but those whom He wills.

He is not far off; He is there, very close. He is looking at us, and He is begging this sorrow, this agony from us. He needs it for souls and for our soul... Alas, it does pain Him to give us sorrows to drink, but He knows this is the only means of preparing us to know Him as He knows Himself and to become God's ourselves.

Love is the Cross, and the Cross is Love.

God has made me desire always what he most wants to give me.

A word or a smile is often enough to put fresh life in a despondent soul.

Silence does good to the soul.

Our Lord needs from us neither great deeds nor profound thoughts. Neither intelligence nor talents. He cherishes simplicity.

Trust and trust alone should lead us to love

The loveliest materpiece of the heart of God is the love of a Mother.

nobody is a good judge in his own cause!

Without love, deeds, even the most brilliant, count as nothing.

The good God would not inspire unattainable desires.

The world's thy ship and not thy home.

Discouragement itself is a form of pride.

If I did not simply live from one moment to another, it would be impossible for me to be patient, but I only look at the present, I forget the past, and I take good care not to forestall the future.

Sufferings gladly borne for others convert more people than sermons.

(Her last words) Oh! I love Him! My God, I love You!

(Whispered to a novice while standing in front of the convent library) Oh! I would have been sorry to have read all those books...If I had read them, I would have broken my head, and I would have wasted precious time that I could have employed very simply in loving God.

I also understood that God's love shows itself just as well in the simplest soul which puts up no resistance to His grace as it does in the loftiest soul.

If all flowers wanted to be roses, nature would lose her springtime beauty and the fields would no longer be decked out with little wildflowers.

How happy I am to see myself as imperfect and to be in need of God's mercy.

Receive Communion often, very often...there you have the sole remedy, if you want to be cured. Jesus has not put this attraction in your heart for nothing.

I will spend my heaven doing good on earth.

Never stop wanting for your magic

When one loves, one does not calculate.

I would prefer a thousand times to receive reproofs than to give them to others.

the more one advances, the more one sees the goal is still far off. And now I am simply resigned to see myself always imperfect and in this I find my joy.

How can the good God Who loves us so much, be happy when we suffer? Never does our suffering make Him happy; but it is necessary for us, and so He sends it to us while, as it were, turning away His Face. . . I assure you that it costs Him dearly to fill us with bitterness.

Look at His adorable face. Look at His glazed and sunken eyes. Look at His wounds. Look Jesus in the Face. There, you will see how He loves us.

He [Jesus] has no need of our works but only of our love.

Let us not be justices of the peace, but angels of peace.

He has created the poor savage with no guide but natural law, and it is to their hearts that He deigns to stoop. They are His wild flowers whose homeliness delights Him.

Jesus, help me to simplify my life by learning what you want me to be and becoming that person.

I prefer the monotony of obscure sacrifice to all ecstasies. To pick up a pin for love can convert a soul.

True charity consists in putting up with all one's neighbors fault's; never being surprised by his weakness, and being inspired by the least of his virtues.

I want to shine like a little candle before His altar.

When I die, I will send down a shower of roses from the heavens,I will spend my heaven by doing good on earth.

Prayer is an aspiration of the heart, it is a simple glance directed to heaven, it is a cry of gratitude and love in the midst of trail as well as joy; finally, it is something great, supernatural, which expands my soul and unites me to Jesus.

I prefer to be accused unjustly, for then I have nothing to reproach myself with, and joyfully offer this to the good Lord. Then I humble myself at the thought that I am indeed capable of doing the thing of which I have been accused.

I had wondered for a long time why God had preferences and why all souls did not receive an equal amount of grace [...] Jesus saw fit to enlighten me about this mystery. He set the book of nature before me and I saw that all the flowers He has created are lovely. The splendor of the rose and whiteness of the lily do not rob the little violet of its scent nor the daisy of its simple charm. I realized that if every tiny flower wanted to be a rose, spring would lose its loveliness and there would be no wild flowers to make the meadows gay.

In spite of this trial, which takes all enjoyment from me, I can never the less, cry out, 'Lord, you fill me with joy in all that you do. For is there a joy greater than to suffer for love?'

I'm suffering very much, but am I suffering very well? That's the point!

No harm can come to me since, in whatever happens, I see only the tender hand of Jesus.

For me, prayer means launching out of the heart towards God; it means lifting up one's eyes, quite simply, to heaven, a cry of grateful love, from the crest of joy or the trough of despair; it's a vast, supernatural force which opens out my heart, and binds me close to Jesus.

It is love alone that counts.

It is my weakness that gives me all my strength.

It isn't enough to love; we must prove it.

Above the clouds the sky is always blue.

I know now that true charity consists in bearing all our neighbors'defects--not being surprised at their weakness, but edified at their smallest virtues.

If a little flower could speak, it seems to me that it would tell us quite simply all that God has done for it, without hiding any of its gifts. It would not, under the pretext of humility, say that it was not pretty, or that it had not a sweet scent, that the sun had withered its petals,or the storm bruised its stem, if it knew that such were not the case.

I realized that to become a saint one must suffer a great deal, always seek what is best, and forget oneself.

I want to give myself totally to Him...I want to live no longer but for Him.

What offends Him and what wounds His Heart is the lack of confidence...Your heart is made to love Jesus, to love Him passionately...We have only the short moments of our life to love Jesus!

Jesus does not demand great actions from us, but simply surrender and gratitude.

Perfection consists in doing His will, in being that which He wants us to be.

At the time of Holy Communion I sometimes picture my soul under the figure of a little child of three or four years, who at play has got its hair tossed and its clothes soiled. These misfortunes have befallen me in battling with souls. But very soon the Blessed Virgin hastens to my aid: quickly, she takes off my dirty little pinafore, smoothes my hair and adorns it with a pretty ribbon or simply with a little flower... and this suffices to render me pleasing and enables me to sit at the Banquet of Angels without blushing.

For me, prayer is an upward leap of the heart, an untroubled glance towards heaven, a cry of gratitude and love which I utter from the depths of sorrow as well as from the heights of joy.

The splendor of the rose and the whiteness of the lily do not rob the little violet of it’s scent nor the daisy of its simple charm. If every tiny flower wanted to be a rose, spring would lose its loveliness.

In trial or difficulty I have recourse to Mother Mary, whose glance alone is enough to dissipate every fear.

The greatest honor God can do a soul is not give it much; but to ask much of it.

I understood that every flower created by Him is beautiful, that the brilliance of the rose and the whiteness of the lily do not lessen the perfume of the violet or the sweet simplicity of the daisy. I understood that if all the lowly flowers wished to be roses, nature would no longer be enamelled with lovely hues. And so it is in the world of souls, Our lord's living garden.

Frequently, only silence can express my prayer.

Whose hands are God's hands, but our hands?

Life is only a dream: soon, we shall awaken. And what joy! The greater our sufferings, the more limitless our glory. Oh! do not let us waste the trial Jesus sends.

When we yield to discouragement it is usually because we give too much thought to the past and to the future.

My vocation, at last I have found it; my vocation is love.

Holiness consists simply in doing God's will, and being just what God wants us to be.

For one pain endured with joy, we shall love the good God more forever.

For me to love you, Jesus, as you love me, I would have to borrow your own love and then only would I be at rest.

i can nourish myself on nothing but truth

A heart given to God loses none of its natural tenderness; on the contrary, the more pure and divine it becomes, the more such tenderness increases.