Mother Teresa Quotes

"There should be less talk. Take a broom and clean someone’s house. That says enough."
"God doesn’t require us to succeed. He only requires that you try."
"What we are doing is just a drop in the ocean…but I think the ocean would be less because of that missing drop."
"Once I saw a sister with a long face going out for apostolate, so I called her to my room and I asked her, “What did Jesus say, to carry the cross in front of Him or to follow Him?” With a big smile she looked at me and said, “To follow Him.” So I asked her, “Why are you trying to go ahead of Him?” She left my room smiling. She had understood the meaning of following Jesus."
"Kind words can be short and easy to speak but their echoes are truly endless."
"In this life we cannot do great things we can only do small things with great love."
"It is not how much we do but how much love we put into the doing. It is not how much we give but how much love we put into the giving."
"I am a little pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world."
"If we really want to love we must learn how to forgive."
"God is the friend of silence. See how nature- trees, flowers, grass- grows in silence. We need silence to be able to touch souls."
“I find the unborn child to be the poorest of the poor today- the most unloved- the most unwanted, the throw away of the society.”
"The joy of loving Jesus comes from the joy of sharing in His sufferings. So do not allow yourself to be troubled or distressed, but believe in the joy of the Resurrection. In all our lives, as in the life of Jesus, the Resurrection has to come, the joy of Easter has to dawn."
"Remember- love begins at home- our community- our family."
"I remember some time ago a very big group of professors came from the United States and they asked, “Tell us something that will help us.” And I said “Smile at each other.” I must have said it in a very serious way, I suppose, and so one of them asked me, “Are you married?” And I said, “Yes, and I sometimes find it very difficult to smile at Jesus because He can be very demanding."
"Pray- I must be able to give Jesus to the world. People are hungry for God. What (a) terrible meeting (it) would be with our neighbour if we give them only ourselves."
"Sorrow, suffering, Eileen, is but a kiss of Jesus- a sign that you have come so close to Jesus that He can kiss you.- I think this is the most beautiful definition of suffering.- So let us be happy when Jesus stoops down to kiss us.- I hope we are close enough that He can do it."
- to friend Eileen Egan
"Keep giving Jesus to your people not by words but by your example- by your being in love with Jesus- by radiating His holiness and spreading His fragrance of love everywhere you god."
"God cannot fill what is full.- He can fill only emptiness…It is not how much we really “have to give- but how empty we are- so that we can receive fully in our life and let Him live His life in us."
"With me the sunshine of darkness is bright."
"I am ready to accept whatever He gives and to give whatever He takes with a big smile."
“My heart hath expected reproach and misery. And I looked for one that would grieve together with me, and there was none; and I sought one that would console me, and I found none. Ps. 68:21.
“I always write that sentence, “I looked for one to comfort Me, but I found no one.” Then I write, “Be the one.” So now you be that one. Try to be the one to share with Him, to comfort Him, to console Him.
"Be the one…be the one who will satiate the Thirst. Instead of saying “I thirst” say “be the one”…do whatever you believe God is asking you to do to be the one to satiate Him."
"Pray for me- that I be nothing to the world and let the world be nothing to me."
"In spite of it all- I am His little one- and I love Him- not for what He gives- but for what He takes."
"What are You doing my God to one so small?"
"Be kind to each other.- I prefer you make mistakes in kindness- than you work miracles in unkindness."
"I beg of you only one thing- please do not take the trouble to return soon- I am ready to wait on you for all eternity. Your little one" -in a letter to Jesus
"If I ever become a saint- I will surely be one of “darkness”. I will continually be absent from Heaven- to light the light of those in darkness on earth."
"Do not think that my spiritual life is strewn with roses- that is the flower which I hardly ever find on my way. Quite the contrary, I have more often as my companion “darkness.” And when the night becomes very thick- and it seems to me as if I will end up in hell- then I simply offer myself to Jesus. If He wants me to go there- I am ready- but only under the condition that it really makes Him happy."
"Ask Jesus not to allow me to refuse Him anything, however small. I (would) rather die."
"To possess God we must allow Him to possess our soul."
"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 the good God nothing is little because He is so great and we so small- that is why He stoops down and takes the trouble to make those little things for us- to give us a chance to prove our love for Him."
"How often, how very often He complained of delays- for whenever He asks something, He says, people get extra careful about many things- but if the world asks the things are done so quickly."
"God doesn’t require us to succeed. He only requires that you try."
"What we are doing is just a drop in the ocean…but I think the ocean would be less because of that missing drop."
"Once I saw a sister with a long face going out for apostolate, so I called her to my room and I asked her, “What did Jesus say, to carry the cross in front of Him or to follow Him?” With a big smile she looked at me and said, “To follow Him.” So I asked her, “Why are you trying to go ahead of Him?” She left my room smiling. She had understood the meaning of following Jesus."
"Kind words can be short and easy to speak but their echoes are truly endless."
"In this life we cannot do great things we can only do small things with great love."
"It is not how much we do but how much love we put into the doing. It is not how much we give but how much love we put into the giving."
"I am a little pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world."
"If we really want to love we must learn how to forgive."
"God is the friend of silence. See how nature- trees, flowers, grass- grows in silence. We need silence to be able to touch souls."
“I find the unborn child to be the poorest of the poor today- the most unloved- the most unwanted, the throw away of the society.”
"The joy of loving Jesus comes from the joy of sharing in His sufferings. So do not allow yourself to be troubled or distressed, but believe in the joy of the Resurrection. In all our lives, as in the life of Jesus, the Resurrection has to come, the joy of Easter has to dawn."
"Remember- love begins at home- our community- our family."
"I remember some time ago a very big group of professors came from the United States and they asked, “Tell us something that will help us.” And I said “Smile at each other.” I must have said it in a very serious way, I suppose, and so one of them asked me, “Are you married?” And I said, “Yes, and I sometimes find it very difficult to smile at Jesus because He can be very demanding."
"Pray- I must be able to give Jesus to the world. People are hungry for God. What (a) terrible meeting (it) would be with our neighbour if we give them only ourselves."
"Sorrow, suffering, Eileen, is but a kiss of Jesus- a sign that you have come so close to Jesus that He can kiss you.- I think this is the most beautiful definition of suffering.- So let us be happy when Jesus stoops down to kiss us.- I hope we are close enough that He can do it."
- to friend Eileen Egan
"Keep giving Jesus to your people not by words but by your example- by your being in love with Jesus- by radiating His holiness and spreading His fragrance of love everywhere you god."
"God cannot fill what is full.- He can fill only emptiness…It is not how much we really “have to give- but how empty we are- so that we can receive fully in our life and let Him live His life in us."
"With me the sunshine of darkness is bright."
"I am ready to accept whatever He gives and to give whatever He takes with a big smile."
“My heart hath expected reproach and misery. And I looked for one that would grieve together with me, and there was none; and I sought one that would console me, and I found none. Ps. 68:21.
“I always write that sentence, “I looked for one to comfort Me, but I found no one.” Then I write, “Be the one.” So now you be that one. Try to be the one to share with Him, to comfort Him, to console Him.
"Be the one…be the one who will satiate the Thirst. Instead of saying “I thirst” say “be the one”…do whatever you believe God is asking you to do to be the one to satiate Him."
"Pray for me- that I be nothing to the world and let the world be nothing to me."
"In spite of it all- I am His little one- and I love Him- not for what He gives- but for what He takes."
"What are You doing my God to one so small?"
"Be kind to each other.- I prefer you make mistakes in kindness- than you work miracles in unkindness."
"I beg of you only one thing- please do not take the trouble to return soon- I am ready to wait on you for all eternity. Your little one" -in a letter to Jesus
"If I ever become a saint- I will surely be one of “darkness”. I will continually be absent from Heaven- to light the light of those in darkness on earth."
"Do not think that my spiritual life is strewn with roses- that is the flower which I hardly ever find on my way. Quite the contrary, I have more often as my companion “darkness.” And when the night becomes very thick- and it seems to me as if I will end up in hell- then I simply offer myself to Jesus. If He wants me to go there- I am ready- but only under the condition that it really makes Him happy."
"Ask Jesus not to allow me to refuse Him anything, however small. I (would) rather die."
"To possess God we must allow Him to possess our soul."
"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 the good God nothing is little because He is so great and we so small- that is why He stoops down and takes the trouble to make those little things for us- to give us a chance to prove our love for Him."
"How often, how very often He complained of delays- for whenever He asks something, He says, people get extra careful about many things- but if the world asks the things are done so quickly."