St. Teresa Quotations

Untilled soil, however fertile it may be, will bear thistles and thorns; and so it is with man's mind.

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

Let nothing disturb thee; Let nothing dismay thee; All thing pass; God never changes. Patience attains All that it strives for. He who has God Finds he lacks nothing:God alone suffices.

Learn to self-conquest, persevere thus for a time, and you will perceive very clearly the advantage which you gain from it. As soon you apply yourself to orison, you will at once feel your senses gather themselves together: they seem like bees which return to the hive and there shut themselves up to work at the making of honey. At the first call of the will, they come back more and more quickly. At last, after countless exercises, of this kind, God disposes them to a state of utter rest and of perfect contemplation.

God aids the valiant...both to you and to me He will give the help needed.

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.

the pain was so sharp that it made me utter several moans; and so excessive was the sweetness caused me by this intense pain that one can never wish to lose it.

It is love alone that gives worth to all things

It is here, my daughters, that love is to be found -- not hidden away in corners but in the midst of occasions of sin. And believe me, although we may more often fail and commit small lapses, our gain will be incomparably the greater.

Patient endurance attaineth to all things; who God possesseth in nothing is wanting; alone God sufficeth.

We can only learn to know ourselves and do what we can -- namely, surrender our will and fulfill God's will in us.

We know only that we are living in these bodies and have a vague idea, because we have heard it, and because our faith tells us so, that we possess souls. As to what good qualities there may be in our souls, or who dwells within them, or how precious they are, those are things which seldom consider and so we trouble little about carefully preserving the soul's beauty.

(said of God):If this is the way you treat your friends, it's no wonder you have so few!

Prayer is nothing else than being on terms of friendship with God.

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

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

Do not dismayed daughters, at the number of things which you have to consider before setting out on this divine journey, which is the royal road to heaven. By taking this road we gain such precious treasures that it is no wonder if the cost seems to us a high one. The time will come when we shall realize that all we have paid has been nothing at all by comparison with the greatness of our prizes.

Each of us has a soul, but we forget to value it. We dont remember that we are creatures made in the image of God. We dont understand the great secrets hidden inside of us.