Santa Teresa de Jesús > Quotes

“It is love alone that gives worth to all things.”
― Santa Teresa de Jesús

“If this is how you treat your friends, no wonder you have so many enemies.

~ Said as she was bucked off her horse into a river on the way to visit one of her monasteries”
― Santa Teresa de Jesús

“It is foolish to think that we will enter heaven without entering into ourselves.”
― Santa Teresa de Jesús

“Christ has no body now on earth but yours,
no hands but yours,
no feet but yours,
Yours are the eyes through which to look out
Christ's 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 men now.”
― Santa Teresa de Jesús

“May today there be peace within.
May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be.
May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith.
May you use those gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you.
May you be content knowing that you are a child of God.
Let this presence settle into our bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, danse, praise and love.
It is there for each and everyone of you.”
― Santa Teresa de Jesús

“Untilled ground, however rich, will bring forth thistles and thorns; so also the mind of man.”
― Santa Teresa de Jesús

“Thank God for the things that I do not own.”
― Santa Teresa de Jesús

“Let nothing disturb you,
Let nothing frighten you,
All things are passing away:
God never changes.
Patience obtains all things.
Whoever has God lacks nothing;
God alone suffices.”
― Santa Teresa de Jesús

“God save us from gloomy saints!”
― Santa Teresa de Jesús

“For prayer is nothing else than being on terms of friendship with God.”
― Santa Teresa de Jesús

“You pay God a compliment by asking great things of Him.”
― Santa Teresa de Jesús

“Accustom yourself continually to make many acts of love, for they enkindle and melt the soul.”
― Santa Teresa de Jesús, Complete Works of St Teresa of Jesus: Volume 3

“Be gentle to all, and stern with yourself.”
― Santa Teresa de Jesús

“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.”
― Santa Teresa de Jesús

“The important thing is not to think much but to love much; and so do that which best stirs you to love.”
― Santa Teresa de Jesús

“This Beloved of ours is merciful and good. Besides, he so deeply longs for our love that he keeps calling us to come closer. This voice of his is so sweet that the poor soul falls apart in the face of her own inability to instantly do whatever he asks of her. And so you can see, hearing him hurts much more than not being able to hear him… For now, his voice reaches us through words spoken by good people, through listening to spiritual talks, and reading sacred literature. God calls to us in countless little ways all the time. Through illnesses and suffering and through sorrow he calls to us. Through a truth glimpsed fleetingly in a state of prayer he calls to us. No matter how halfhearted such insights may be, God rejoices whenever we learn what he is trying to teach us.”
― Santa Teresa de Jesús, Interior Castle

“I am quite sure I am more afraid of people who are themselves terrified of the devil than I am of the devil himself.”
― Santa Teresa de Jesús, The Life of Saint Teresa of Ávila by Herself

“I know a person who, though no poet, composed some verses in a very short time, which were full of feeling and admirably descriptive of her pain: they did not come from her understanding, but, in order the better to enjoy the bliss which came to her from such delectable pain, she complained of it to her God. She would have been so glad if she could have been cut to pieces, body and soul, to show what joy this pain caused her. What torments could have been set before her at such a time which she would not have found it delectable to endure for her Lord's sake?”
― Santa Teresa de Jesús, The Life of Saint Teresa of Ávila by Herself

“To have courage for whatever comes in life
– everything lies in that”
― Santa Teresa de Jesús

“For if the will has nothing to employ it and love has no present object with which to busy itself, the soul finds itself without either support or occupation, its solitude and aridity cause it great distress and its thoughts involve it in the severest conflict.”
― Santa Teresa de Jesús, The Life of Saint Teresa of Ávila by Herself

“Amor saca amor.”
― Santa Teresa de Jesús

“In light of heaven, the worst suffering on earth will be seen to be no more serious than one night in an inconvenient hotel.”
― Santa Teresa de Jesús

“Vivo sin vivir en mí... muero porque no muero. (I live without really being alive... I die because I am not dying.)”
― Santa Teresa de Jesús

“ Union is as if in a room there were two large windows through which the light streamed in it enters in diffrent places but it all becomes one. ”
― Santa Teresa de Jesús, Interior Castle

“At night a hooded monk passed by where there were no lamps.
I could not see his face. I only heard these words he kept repeating:
"Teach me, dear Lord, all that you know."
I knew instantly a great treasure had entered my soul.”
― Santa Teresa de Jesús

“All the trials we endure cannot be compared to these interior battles.”
― Santa Teresa de Jesús

“The devil frequently fills our thoughts with great schemes, so that instead of putting our hands to what work we can do to serve our Lord, we may rest satisfied with wishing to perform impossibilities.”
― Santa Teresa de Jesús, Interior Castle

“It is of great importance, when we begin to practise prayer, not to let ourselves be frightened by our own thoughts.”
― Santa Teresa de Jesús, The Life of Saint Teresa of Ávila by Herself

“All the way to heaven is heaven.”
― Santa Teresa de Jesús

“I cannot think why we should be astonished at all the evils which exist in the Church, when those who ought to be models on which all may pattern their virtues are annulling the work wrought in the religious Orders by the spirit of the saints of old.”
― Santa Teresa de Jesús, The Life of Saint Teresa of Ávila by Herself

“Love turns work into rest.”
― Santa Teresa de Jesús

“He has borne with thousands of foul and abominable sins which you have committed against Him, yet even they have not been enough to make Him cease looking upon you. Is it such a great matter, then, for you to avert the eyes of your soul from the outward things and sometimes to look at Him?”
― Santa Teresa de Jesús

“God withholds Himself from no one who perseveres.”
― Santa Teresa de Jesús

“I used unexpectedly to experience a consciousness of the presence of God, or such a kind that I could not possibly doubt that He was within me or that I was wholly engulfed in Him. This was in no sense a vision: I believe it is called mystical theology. The soul is suspended in such a way that it seems to be completely outside itself. The will loves; the memory, I think, is almost lost; while the understanding, I believe, thought it is not lost, does not reason—I mean that it does not work, but is amazed at the extent of all it can understand; for God wills it to realize that it understands nothing of what His Majesty represents to it.”
― Santa Teresa de Jesús, The Life of Saint Teresa of Ávila by Herself

“Christ has no body on Earth but ours.”
― Santa Teresa de Jesús

“O infinite goodness of my God! It is thus that I seem to see both myself and Thee. O Joy of the angels, how I long, when I think of this, to be wholly consumed in love for Thee! How true it is that Thou dost bear with those who cannot bear Thee to be with them! Oh, how good a Friend art Thou, my Lord! How Thou dost comfort us and suffer us and wait until our nature becomes more like Thine and meanwhile dost bear with it as it is! Thou dost remember the times when we love Thee, my Lord, and, when for a moment we repent, Thou dost forget how we offended Thee. I have seen this clearly in my own life, and I cannot conceive, my Creator, why the whole world does not strive to draw near to Thee in this intimate friendship. Those of us who are wicked, and whose nature is not like Thine, ought to draw near to Thee so that Thou mayest make them good. They should allow Thee to be with them for at least two hours each day, even though they may not be with Thee, but are perplexed, as I was, with a thousand worldly cares and thoughts. In exchange for the effort which it costs them to desire to be in such good company (for Thou knowest, Lord, that at first this is as much as they can do and sometimes they can do no more at all) Thou dost prevent the devils from assaulting them so that each day they are able to do them less harm, and Thou givest them strength to conquer. Yea, Life of all lives, Thou slayest none of those that put their trust in Thee and desire Thee for their Friend; rather dost Thou sustain their bodily life with greater health and give strength to their souls.”
― Santa Teresa de Jesús, The Life of Saint Teresa of Ávila by Herself

“You must know that weather or not you are practicing mental prayer has nothing to do with keeping your lips closed. If, while I am speaking with God, I am fully conscious of doing so, and if this is more real to me than the words I am uttering, then I am combining mental and vocal prayer. I am amazed when people tell me that you are speaking with God by reciting the Paternoster even while you are thinking of worldly things. When you speak with a Lord so great, you should think of Who it is you are addressing and what you yourself are, if only that you may speak to Him with proper respect. How can you address a king with the reverence he deserves unless you are clearly conscious of his position and yours?”
― Santa Teresa de Jesús, The Way of Perfection

“That name--my conception of Him--extended to me
a hand that led to a place
where even His divine name could not exist.
Why?”
― Santa Teresa de Jesús