Thérèse of Lisieux Quotes

The good God does not need years to accomplish His work of love in a soul; one ray from His Heart can, in an instant, make His flower bloom for eternity.

Since the age of three I have refused God nothing.

"«La niña es un verdadero diablillo, que viene a acariciarme deseándome la muerte: "¡Cómo me gustaría que te murieras, mamaíta...!" La riñen, y me dice: "¡Pero si es para que vayas al cielo! ¿No dices que tenemos que morirnos para ir allá?" Y cuando está con estos arrebatos de amor, desea también la muerte a su padre»."

…you must be always as a drop of dew hidden in the heart of this beautiful Lily of the valley
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One must be so little to draw near to Jesus, and few are the souls that aspire to be little and unknown.
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Our Beloved needs neither our brilliant deeds nor our beautiful thoughts.
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The Lily of the valley asks but a single dewdrop, which for one night shall rest in its cup, hidden from all human eyes.

M. Révérony said immediately: "Most Holy Father, this is a child who wants to enter Carmel at fifteen, but the superiors are considering the matter at this moment." (The good pope is so old that one would say he is dead; I would never have pictured him like this.) The Holy Father said simply: "If God wills it, you will enter." [-]I was crying a lot when writing this letter; my heart is heavy. However, God cannot give me trials that are above my strength. He has given me the courage to bear this trial. I am the Child Jesus' little ball;if He wishes to break His toy, He is free. Yes, I will all that He wills.

I have often noticed that Jesus will not give me a store of provisions; He nourishes me with food that is entirely new from moment to moment, and I find it in my soul without knowing how it got there.

Then, overcome by joy, I cried, 'Jesus, my love. At last I have found my vocation. My vocation is love. In the heart of the Church, my mother, I will be love, and then I will be all things.

Let me suppose that I had been born in a land of thick fogs, and had never seen the beauties of nature, or a single ray of sunshine, although I had heard of these wonders from my early youth, and knew that the country wherein I dwelt was not my real home — there was another land, unto which I should always look forward. Now this is not a fable, invented by an inhabitant of the land of fogs, it is the solemn truth, for the King of that sunlit country dwelt for three and thirty years in the land of darkness, and alas! — the darkness did not understand that He was the Light of the World.
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From the time of my childhood I felt that one day I should be set free from this land of darkness. I believed it, not only because I had been told so by others, but my heart's most secret and deepest longings assured me that there was in store for me another and more beautiful country — an abiding dwelling-place.

Do you realize
that Jesus is there
in the tabernacle
expressly for you-
for you alone? He
burns with the
desire to come into
your heart… don’t
listen to the demon,
laugh at him, and
go without fear to
receive the Jesus of
peace and love…

It's true, I suffer a great deal — but do I suffer well? That is the question.

If you wish to be a saint, it is not hard. Have one aim — to please Jesus and to unite yourself more intimately to Him.

I prayed earnestly for this Sister who had caused me so much struggle, but this was not enough for me. I tried to do everything I possibly could for her, and when tempted to answer her sharply, I hastened to give her a friendly smile and talk about something else, for, as it says in The Imitation, “It is better to leave everyone to his own way of thinking than begin an argument.” (Imit., III, xliv, 1).

I don’t have the courage to make a strict rule for myself to search in books for beautiful prayers. That gives me a headache, there are so many of them! . . . And then some are more beautiful than others. . . . I wouldn’t know how to recite them all. Not knowing which one to choose, I do as children do who don’t know how to read: I very simply tell God what I want to tell Him, without making beautiful phrases, and He always understands me. . . . For me, prayer is an upward rising of the heart, it’s a simple glance toward heaven, it’s a cry of gratitude and love in the midst of trials as much as in the midst of joys. In short, it’s something big, something great, something supernatural, that expands my heart and unites me to Jesus.

«El amor jamás encuentra pretexto de imposibilidad porque cree que todo lo puede y le conviene». La prudencia humana, por el contrario, tiembla a cada paso y, por decirlo así, no se atreve a apoyar el pie.

Ah! How contrary are the teachings of Jesus to the feelings of nature! Without the help of His grace it would be impossible not only to put them into practice, but to even understand them.