Teresa of Ávila Quotes

Amor saca amor.

How wonderful it is that He Whose greatness could fill a thousand worlds, and very many more, should confine Himself within so small a space, just as He was pleased to dwell within the womb of His most holy Mother!

let us desire that not our wills, but His will, be done.74 If we have not progressed as far as this, then, as I have said, let us practise humility, which is the ointment for our wounds; if we are truly humble, God, the Physician,75 will come in due course, even though He tarry, to heal us.

The happy result of detachment is inner freedom, freedom from worry about bodily comfort, honor, and wealth.

"But to get to know God's friends is a very good way of "having" Him;"

For, as I have already said, it is the ecclesiastical and not the secular arm which must defend us.

Lord of ours is so anxious that we should desire Him and strive after His companionship that He calls us ceaselessly, time after time, to approach Him; and this voice of His is so sweet that the poor soul is consumed with grief at being unable to do His bidding immediately; and thus, as I say, it suffers more than

I was recently told by a great theologian that souls without prayer are like bodies, palsied and lame, having hands and feet they cannot use.

I believe we shall never learn to know ourselves except by endeavouring to know God, for, beholding His greatness we are struck by our own baseness, His purity shows our foulness, and by meditating on His humility we find how very far we are from being humble. 11.

the soul of the righteous man is nothing but a paradise, in which, as God tells us, He takes His delight.

The soul is like a crystal in the sunshine over which a thick black cloth has been thrown so that however brightly the sun may shine the crystal can never reflect it.

But always when I was without a book, my soul at once became disturbed, and my thoughts wandered.

It is no small pity, and should cause us no little shame, that, through our own fault, we do not understand ourselves, or know who we are.

of the Lord, Who has13 brought you together here for that very purpose. This is your vocation; this must be your business; these must be your desires; these your tears; these your petitions. Let us not pray for worldly things, my sisters. It makes me laugh, and yet14 it makes me sad, when I hear of the things which people come here to beg us to pray to God for; we are to ask His Majesty to give them money and to provide them with incomes — I wish that some of these people would entreat15 God to enable them to trample all such things beneath their feet. Their intentions are quite good, and I do as they ask because I see that they are really devout people, though I do not myself believe that God ever hears me when I pray for such things.16 The

Trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be.