The Way of Perfection Quotes

“Prayer and comfortable living are incompatible.”
― Teresa of Ávila, The Way of Perfection

“I cannot understand how humility exists, or can exist, without love, or love without humility,”
― Teresa of Ávila, The Way of Perfection

“many people are good at talking and bad at understanding,”
― Teresa of Ávila, The Way of Perfection

“Humility cannot exist without love, and love cannot exist without humility. It is impossible for these virtues to exist except where there is great detachment from all created things.”
― Teresa of Ávila, The Way of Perfection

“It is a good proof and test of our love if we can bear with such faults and not be shocked by them. Others, in their turn, will bear with your faults, which, if you include those of which you are not aware, must be much more numerous.”
― Teresa of Ávila, The Way of Perfection

“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

“For at times it happens that some trifle will cause as much suffering to one as a great trial will to another; little things can bring much distress to persons who have sensitive natures. If you are not like them, do not fail to be compassionate.”
― Teresa of Ávila, St. Teresa of Avila The Way of Perfection: Study Edition

“Either we are the brides of this great King or we are not.”
― Teresa of Ávila, The Way of Perfection

“But to get to know God's friends is a very good way of "having" Him;”
― Teresa of Ávila, The Way of Perfection

“Let the truth be in your hearts, as it will be if you practise meditation, and you will see clearly what love we are bound to have for our neighbors.”
― Teresa of Ávila, The Way of Perfection

“Never suppose that either the evil or the good that you do will remain secret, however strict may be your enclosure.”
― Teresa of Ávila, The Way of Perfection

“One of these is love for each other; the second, detachment from all created things; the third, true humility, which, although I put it last, is the most important of the three and embraces all the rest.”
― Teresa of Ávila, The Way of Perfection by Saint Teresa of Avila

“Aunque me canse, aunque no pueda, aunque reviente, aunque me muera.”
― Santa Teresa de Jesús, Camino de perfección: Adaptado al castellano actual por Raúl Alonso (Llama de amor viva)

“Let us not fail him; do not fear that he will fail you. And if some time he should fail you, it will be for a greater good. The”
― Teresa of Ávila, St. Teresa of Avila The Way of Perfection: Study Edition

“Do you suppose, daughters, that He is alone when He comes to us? Do you not see that His most holy Son says: "Who art in the Heavens"? Surely such a King would not be abandoned by His courtiers. They stay with Him and pray to Him on our behalf and for our welfare, for they are full of charity.”
― Teresa of Ávila, The Way of Perfection

“you will never lack so much of the water of comfort that your thirst will be intolerable;”
― Teresa of Ávila, The Way of Perfection

“The truly humble person will have a genuine desire to be thought little of, and persecuted, and condemned unjustly, even in serious matters. For, if she desires to imitate the Lord, how can she do so better than in this? And no bodily strength is necessary here, nor the aid of anyone save God.”
― Teresa of Ávila, The Way of Perfection

“For only the body would die, whereas the loss of a soul is a great loss which is apparently without end;”
― Teresa of Ávila, The Way of Perfection

“Each partner, in fact, shares in the honor and dishonor of the other.”
― Teresa of Ávila, The Way of Perfection

“Remember that true humility consists in being ready for what the Lord wants to do with you and happy that he should do it, and in considering yourselves unworthy to be called his servants.”
― Teresa of Ávila, The Way of Perfection

“O Lord, all our troubles come to us because we do not have our eyes fixed on you. If only we looked at the path we're walking, we would soon arrive. But, we stumble and fall a thousand times and we stray because we do not set our eyes on the true Way.”
― Teresa of Avila, The Way of Perfection

“Imagine that this Lord Himself is at your side and see how lovingly and how humbly He is teaching you – and, believe me, you should stay with so good a Friend for as long as you can before you leave Him. If you become accustomed to having Him at your side, and if He sees that you love Him to be there and are always trying to please Him, you will never be able to send Him away, nor will He ever fail you. He will help you in all your trials and you will have Him everywhere. Do you think it is a small thing to have such a Friend as that beside you?”
― Teresa of Ávila, The Way of Perfection

“May the Lord lay His hand on all that I do so that it may be in accordance with His holy will; this is always my desire, although my actions may be as imperfect as I myself am.”
― Teresa of Ávila, The Way of Perfection by Saint Teresa of Avila

“the Lord knows everyone as he really is and gives each his work to do -- according to what He sees to be most fitting for his soul, and for His own Self, and for the good of his neighbor.”
― Teresa of Ávila, The Way of Perfection

“Of the good things they do many will pass unnoticed, or will even not be considered good at all; but they need not fear that any evil or imperfect thing they do will be overlooked.”
― Teresa of Ávila, The Way of Perfection

“Before we had this true fear of God worldly people would have been poisonous to us and would have helped to ruin our souls; but now they will often help us to love God more and to praise Him for having delivered us from what we see to be a notorious danger. And whereas we for our part may previously have helped to foster their weakness, we shall now be helping to repress them, because they will restrain themselves in our presence, and this is a compliment which they will pay us without our desiring it.”
― Teresa of Avila, The Way of Perfection

“Tengo para mí que honras y dineros casi siempre andan juntos, y que quien quiere honra no aborrece dineros, y que quien los aborrece que se le da poco de honra.”
― Teresa of Ávila, Camino de la perfección

“Dime gran fatiga, y como si yo pudiera algo o fuera algo, lloraba con el Señor y le suplicaba remediase tanto mal.”
― Teresa of Ávila, Camino de la perfección

“we shall not fail to observe the fasts, disciplines and periods of silence which the Order commands; for, as you know, if prayer is to be genuine it must be reinforced with these things--prayer cannot be accompanied by self-indulgence.”
― Teresa of Ávila, St. Teresa of Avila: The Way of Perfection

“how much we owe to the Lord for bringing us to a place where we are so free from business matters, occasions of sin and the society of worldly people.”
― Teresa of Ávila, St. Teresa of Avila: The Way of Perfection