Mother Teresa Quotes

The same God who loves us as we are also loves us to much to leave us as we are. Perhpas because we tend to hold to ideas about God that reflect our own suppositions and fears, more than God's self-revelation. We reduce God to our own dimensions, ascribing to him our own reactions and responses, especially our own petty and conditional kind of love, and so end up believing in a God cast in our own image and likeness.

But the true God, the living God, is entirely "other":. Precisely from this radical otherness derives the inscrutable and transcendent nature of divine love-- for which our limited human love is but a distant metaphor. God's love is much more than our human love simply multiplied and expanded. God's love for us will ever be mystery; unfathomable, awesome, entirely beyond human expectation.

Precisely because God's love is something "no eyes has seen, nor ear heard nor the heart of man conceived" (1 Cor 2:9), Mother Teresa meditated on it continuously, and encouraged us to do the same, to continue plumbing this mystery more deeply. To this end she invites us: "Try to deepen your understanding of these two words, 'Thirst of God.; ~ Joseph Langford

If you judge people, you have no time to love them. ~ Mother Teresa

What you are doing I cannot do, what I'm doing you cannot do, but together we are doing something beautiful for God, and this is the greatness of God's love for us-To give us the opportunity to become holy through the works of love that we do because holiness is not the luxury of the few. ~ Mother Teresa

You who have received so much love, show your love by protecting the sacredness of life. The sacredness of life is the greatest gifts that God has given us. ~ Mother Teresa

The fruit of faith is love. ~ Mother Teresa

MT [Mother Teresa] was not a friend of the poor. She was a friend of poverty. She said that suffering was a gift from God. She spent her life opposing the only known cure for poverty, which is the empowerment of women and the emancipation of them from a livestock version of compulsory reproduction. ~ Christopher Hitchens

Why must we give ourselves fully to God? Because God has given Himself to us. If God who owes nothing to us is ready to impart to us no less than Himself, shall we answer with just a fraction of ourselves? To give ourselves fully to God is a means of receiving God Himself. I for God and God for me. I live for God and give up my own self, and in this way induce God to live for me. Therefore to possess God we must allow Him to possess our soul.5 ~ Mother Teresa

To choose always the hardest. ~ Mother Teresa

Before you speak, it is necessary for you to listen, for God speaks in the silence of the heart. ~ Mother Teresa

I think that before people were speaking much about the poor, but now more and more people are speaking to the poor. That is the great difference. ~ Mother Teresa

How many times we have picked up in the streets human beings who had been living like animals and were longing to die like angels! ~ Mother Teresa

I prefer to make a mistake because I am too kind than to perform miracles without any kindness. ~ Mother Teresa

In reality, there is only one true prayer, only one substantial prayer: Christ himself. There is only one voice which rises above the face of the earth, the voice of Christ. Prayer is oneness with Christ. ~ Mother Teresa

Let us preach you, Dear Jesus, without preaching ... not by words but by our example. ~ Mother Teresa

Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God's kindness: kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile. ~ Mother Teresa

Any work of love brings a person face to face with God. ~ Mother Teresa

We need to find God and God cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature - trees and flowers and grass - grow in silence. See the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence. The more we receive in silent prayer, the more we can give in our active life. ~ Mother Teresa

Joy is very infectious; therefore, be always full of joy! ~ Mother Teresa

Mother Teresa was a hero of mine for a long time. I just like the way she took on the world from a very humble place. She has a great quote. When she was leaving her monestary to start Sisters of Charity, she had two pennies. She was asked by a head priest what she could possibly do with two pennies. She said, 'Nothing. But with two pennies and God, I can do anything'. ~ Jack Canfield

Do small things with great Love ~ Mother Teresa

We must never get into the habit of being preoccupied with the future. There is no reason to do so. God is there. ~ Mother Teresa

I think that a person who is attached to riches, who lives with the worry of riches, is actually very poor. If this person puts his money at the service of others, then he is rich, very rich. ~ Mother Teresa

I go of my free choice, with the blessing of obedience. ~ Mother Teresa

I was always impressed by Betty Ford and what she went through and how full of integrity she was, and how brave. I think Mrs. Reagan was a role model of my mother's generation, intelligent, very supportive of her husband. I am very different from my mom, but I admired her devotion. ~ Teresa Heinz

The greatest disease in the West today is not TB or leprosy; it is being unwanted, unloved, and uncared for. We can cure physical diseases with medicine, but the only cure for loneliness, despair, and hopelessness is love. There are many in the world who are dying for a piece of bread but there are many more dying for a little love. The poverty in the West is a different kind of poverty
it is not only a poverty of loneliness but also of spirituality. There's a hunger for love, as there is a hunger for God. ~ Mother Teresa

What we need is love without getting tired. ~ Mother Teresa

The best way to show your gratitude to God and people is to accept everything with joy ... We may not be able to give much but we can always give the joy that springs from a heart that is in love with God. All over the world people are hungry and thirsty for God's love. We meet that hunger by spreading joy. Joy is one of the best safeguards against temptation. ~ Mother Teresa

He came amongst his own and his own received him not, and it hurt him then and it has kept on hurting him. The same hunger, the same loneliness, the same having no one to be accepted by and to be loved and wanted by. ~ Mother Teresa

People crave attention and appreciation more than they do bread. ~ Mother Teresa

Do you really know the living Jesus - not from books but from being with Him in your heart? Have you heard the loving words He speaks to you? ... The devil may try to use the hurts of life, and sometimes our own mistakes - to make you feel it is impossible that Jesus really loves you, is really cleaving to you. This is a danger for all of us. And so sad, because it is completely the opposite of what Jesus is really wanting, waiting to tell you. Not only that He loves you, but even more - He longs for you. ~ Mother Teresa

If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives. Be kind anyway. ~ Mother Teresa

Do not spare me in anything
let there be less and less of me in everything. ~ Mother Teresa

It's not about how much you do, but how much love you put into what you do that counts. Life isn't worth living, unless lived for other people. ~ Mother Teresa

We cannot all do great things. But we can do small things with great love. -Mother Teresa ~ Louisa Thomsen Brits

My prayer for you is that you come to understand and have the courage to answer Jesus' call to you with the simple word 'yes'. ~ Mother Teresa

Be kind and merciful. Let no one ever come to you without coming away better and happier. Be the living expression of God's kindness. ~ Mother Teresa

The first time I received an award, I was very surprised. I did not know whether to accept it or not. But I came to the conclusion that I should accept awards in the name of the poorest poor, as a form of homage to them. I think that basically, when awards are given to me, the existence of the poor in the world is being recognized. ~ Mother Teresa

In the aftermath of loss, we do what we've always done, although we are changed, maybe more afraid. We do what we can, as well as we can. My pastor, Veronica, one Sunday told the story of a sparrow lying in the street with its legs straight up in the air, sweating a little under its feathery arms. A warhorse walks up to the bird and asks, "What on earth are you doing?" The sparrow replies, "I heard the sky was falling, and I wanted to help." The horse laughs a big, loud, sneering horse laugh, and says, "Do you really think you're going to hold back the sky, with those scrawny little legs?" And the sparrow says, "One does what one can." So what can I do? Not much. Mother Teresa said that none of us can do great things, but we can do small things with great love. This reminder has saved me many times. ~ Anne Lamott

Mother Teresa tells a story of walking past an open drain and catching a glimpse of something moving in it. She investigated and found a dying man whom she took back to a home where he could die in love and peace. 'I live like an animal in the streets,' the man told her. 'Now I will die like an angel' ... ~ Mother Teresa

Speak tenderly; let there be kindness in your face, in your eyes, in your smile, in the warmth of your greeting. Always have a cheerful smile. Don't only give your care, but give your heart as well. ~ Mother Teresa

I do not pray for success, I ask for faithfulness. ~ Mother Teresa

The highest form of worship is to find the least among you and treat them like Jesus. ~ Mother Teresa

Life is a challenge, we must take it. ~ Mother Teresa

O God, how easily I make them happy! Give me strength to be always the light of their lives and so lead them to You! ~ Mother Teresa

He has told us that He is the hungry one. He is the naked one. He is the thirsty one. He is the one without a home. He is the one who is suffering. These are our treasures, she said, looking at the rows of pallets in the caravanserai. They are Jesus. ~ Mother Teresa

Our vocation, to be beautiful, must be full of thought for others. ~ Mother Teresa

We realize that what we are accomplishing is a drop in the ocean. But if this drop were not in the ocean, it would be missed. ~ Mother Teresa

Be faithful to the time spent in prayer and make sure that at least half of your prayer is spent in silence. This will bring you closer to Jesus. If you deepen your prayer life you will grow in holiness and obtain many graces for the souls entrusted to your care. Deepen your love for one another by praying for each other and by sharing thoughts and graces you have received in prayer and reading. ~ Mother Teresa

In loving one another through our works we bring an increase of grace and a growth in divine love. ~ Mother Teresa

I'm not a righteous man. People put me up on a pedestal that I don't belong in my personal life. And they think that I'm better than I am. I'm not the good man that people think I am. Newspapers and magazines and television have made me out to be a saint. I'm not. I'm not a Mother Teresa. And I feel that very much. ~ Billy Graham

We must never be afraid to be a sign of contradiction for the world. ~ Mother Teresa

Studies show that most people rate themselves well above average when it comes to ethical behavior. In fact, a newsmagazine poll asked people whom they thought would get to heaven. Bill Clinton was a toss-up, getting 52 percent backing from respondents. Former basketball star Michael Jordan did better, at 62 percent. Mother Teresa topped the two American men with 79 percent. But she was not the highest. That honor went to "yourself," with 87 percent. ~ Michael Wheeler

You can find Calcutta anywhere in the world. You only need two eyes to see. Everywhere in the world there are people that are not loved, people that are not wanted nor desired, people that no one will help, people that are pushed away or forgotten. And this is the greatest poverty. ~ Mother Teresa

We need to give Christ a chance to make use of us, to be His word and His work, to share His food and His clothing in the world today. If we do not radiate the light of Christ around us, the sense of the darkness that prevails in the world will increase. ~ Mother Teresa

May God break my heart so completely that the whole world falls in. ~ Mother Teresa

Dallas Willard explains: The world has succeeded in opposing intelligence to goodness. . . . And today any attempt to combine spirituality or moral purity with great intelligence causes widespread pangs of "cognitive dissonance." [As with Jesus,] Mother Teresa . . . is thought of as . . . nice, of course, but not really smart. "Smart" means good at managing how life "really" is. ~ Jared C. Wilson

Riches, both material and spiritual, can choke you if you do not use them fairly. For not even God can put anything in a heart that is already full. ~ Mother Teresa

Our progress in holiness depends on God and ourselves - on God's grace and on our will to be holy. ~ Mother Teresa

Unless a life is lived for others, it is not worthwhile. ~ Mother Teresa

Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration with exposition needs a great push. People ask me: 'What will convert America and save the world?' My answer is prayer. What we need is for every parish to come before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament in holy hours of prayer. ~ Mother Teresa

If you are humble nothing will touch you, neither praise nor disgrace, because you know what you are. ~ Mother Teresa

There are many people who can do big things, but there are very few people who will do the small things. ~ Mother Teresa

Life is a game, play it ... Life is too precious, do not destroy it. ~ Mother Teresa

What does "success" mean to you? Was Mother Teresa a "success"? Was your favorite teacher a "success"? Were your parents, grandparents, your pastor, your best friends a "success"? Success is as personal as a fingerprint or DNA; you must define it for yourself. ~ Bob Teague

Anyone is capable of going to Heaven. Heaven is our home. People ask me about death and whether I look forward to it and I answer, 'Of course', because I am going home. Dying is not the end, it is just the beginning. Death is a continuation of life. This is the meaning of eternal life; it is where our soul goes to God, to be in the presence of God, to see God, to speak to God, to continue loving Him with greater love because in Heaven we shall be able to love Him with our whole heart and our soul because we only surrender our body in death - our heart and our soul live forever. When we die we are going to be with God, and all those we have known who have gone before us: our family and our friends will be there waiting for us. Heaven must be a beautiful place. ~ Mother Teresa

The greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion, which is war against the child. The mother doesn't learn to love, but kills to solve her own problems. Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching its people to love, but to use any violence to get what they want. ~ Mother Teresa

Give! Give the love you have received to those around you. You must love with your time, your hands, and your hearts. You need to share all that you have. ~ Mother Teresa

Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible poverty. ~ Mother Teresa

We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop. -Mother Teresa- ~ A Meredith Walters

God Is Using Gianna Jessen To Remind The World, That Each Human Being Is Precious To Him. ~ Mother Teresa

Christians have an important role to play in contending that no human life is "devoid of value." We can do so through courageous protest, as happened in Germany, as well, as in compassionate care for the most vulnerable members of society, as Mother Teresa did. In both approaches theology - what one believes about God and human life - matters. The world desperately needs that good news. ~ Philip Yancey

The beginning of peace is a smile ~ Mother Teresa

If we are Christians, we must look like Christ - this is my deep conviction. ~ Mother Teresa

There are no great things, only small things with great love. Happy are those. ~ Mother Teresa

I am Albanian by birth. Now I am a citizen of India. I am also a Catholic nun. In my work, I belong to the whole world. But in my heart, I belong to Christ. ~ Mother Teresa

You have to do that here in your country. You must come to know the poor. Maybe our people here have material things, everything, but I think that if we all look into our own homes, how difficult we find it sometimes to smile at each other, and that the smile is the beginning of love. ~ Mother Teresa

But still, everything is for Jesus; so like that everything is beautiful, even though it is difficult. ~ Mother Teresa

Love cannot remain by itself - it has no meaning. Love has to be put into action and that action is service. ~ Mother Teresa

At the moment of death we will not be judged according to the number of good deeds we have done or by the diplomas we have received in our lifetime. We will be judged according to the love we have put into our work. ~ Mother Teresa

The very fact that God has placed a certain soul in our way is a sign that God wants us to do something for him or her. It is not chance; it has been planned by God. We are bound by conscience to help him or her. ~ Mother Teresa

When we judge others we leave no room to love them. ~ Mother Teresa

It is by forgiving that one is forgiven. ~ Mother Teresa

The beginning of prayer is silence. If we really want to pray we must first learn to listen, for in the silence of the heart God speaks. And to be able to see that silence, to be able to hear God we need a clean heart; for a clean heart can see God, can hear God, can listen to God; and then only from the fullness of our heart can we speak to God. But we cannot speak unless we have listened, unless we have made that connection with God in the silence of our heart. ~ Mother Teresa

If I look at the mass I will never act. ~ Mother Teresa

Honesty and transparency make you vulnerable. Be honest and transparent anyway. ~ Mother Teresa

Kautilya makes Machiavelli look like Mother Teresa ~ Wendy Doniger

Jesus announced which will be the criteria of the final judgment of our lives: we will be judged according to love.We will be judged according to the poor of spirit or money. ~ Mother Teresa

She suffers and she laughs. ~ Mother Teresa

The beginning of prayer is silence ... ~ Mother Teresa

I don't claim anything of the work. It is his work. I am like a little pencil in his hand. That is all. He does the thinking. He does the writing. The pencil has nothing to do with it. ~ Mother Teresa

If you pray more you will pray better. ~ Mother Teresa

God doesn't ask that we succeed in everything, but that we are faithful. However beautiful our work may be, let us not become attached to it. Always remain prepared to give it up, without losing your peace. ~ Mother Teresa

Let us make that one point - that no child will be unwanted, unloved, uncared for, or killed and thrown away. ~ Mother Teresa

It is only by frequent deaths of ourselves and our self-centered desires that we can come to live more fully. ~ Mother Teresa

Love is repaid by love alone! ~ Mother Teresa

Be the living expression of God's kindness; kindness in your eyes, kindness in your face, kindness in your smile, kindness in your warm greetings. We are all but His instruments who do our little bit and pass by. I believe that the way in which an act of kindness is done is as important as the action itself. ~ Mother Teresa

The tendency in our spiritual life but also our more general attitude toward love is that our feelings are all that is going on. And so to us the totality of love is what we feel. But to really love someone requires commitment, fidelity and vulnerability. Mother Teresa wasn't "feeling" Christ's love, and she could have shut down. But she was up at 4:30 every morning for Jesus, and still writing to him, "Your happiness is all I want." ~ Brian Kolodiejchuk

We can do more for the peace just by changing our thoughts. Be an example of compassion and kindness like Mother Teresa. We all can do that without harming anyone. ~ Debasish Mridha

Be faithful in the little things. ~ Mother Teresa

If you want to pray better, you have to pray more. ~ Mother Teresa