Top 180 Teresa of Ávila Quotes (2025 Update)
Page 2 of 4

51. “Let us look at our own faults, and not other people’s. We ought not to insist on everyone following in our footsteps, nor to take upon ourselves to give instructions in spirituality when, perhaps, we do not even know what it is.”

— Teresa of Ávila

52. “Any real ecstasy is a sign you are moving in the right direction.”

— Teresa of Ávila

53. “In a state of grace, the soul is like a well of limpid water, from which flow only streams of clearest crystal. Its works are pleasing both to God and man, rising from the River of Life, beside which it is rooted like a tree.”

— Teresa of Ávila

54. “May nothing wind you up, nothing affright you; everything comes and goes. God, still, just there; through patience all will be achieved. If you have God, you lack nothing: God alone will do.”

— Teresa of Ávila

55. “For pity’s sake, don’t start meeting troubles halfway.”

— Teresa of Ávila

56. “In order that love be fully satisfied, It is necessary that It lower Itself and that It lower Itself to nothingness and transform this nothingness into fire.”

— Teresa of Ávila

57. “However much we do to avoid them, we shall never lack crosses in this life if we are in the ranks of the Crucified.”

— Teresa of Ávila

58. “Everything seems to me to pass so quickly that we must concentrate on how to die rather than on how to live. How sweet it is to die if one has lived on the Cross with Christ.”

— Teresa of Ávila

59. “I fully realize that this gratitude of mine is not in the least a sign of perfection: it must be my nature – I could be suborned with a sardine...”

— Teresa of Ávila

60. “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.”

— Teresa of Ávila

61. “Christ does not force our will, He only takes what we give Him. But He does not give Himself entirely until He sees that we yield ourselves entirely to Him.”

— Teresa of Ávila

62. “The saints rejoiced at injuries and persecutions, because in forgiving them they had something to present to God when they prayed to Him.”

— Teresa of Ávila

63. “Let us remember that within us there is a palace of immense magnificence.”

— Teresa of Ávila

64. “It is not so essential to think much as to love much.”

— Teresa of Ávila

65. “Souls who do not practice prayer are like people whose limbs are paralyzed.”

— Teresa of Ávila

66. “Oh, my Lord! How true it is that whoever works for you is paid in troubles! And what a precious price to those who love you if we understand its value.”

— Teresa of Ávila

67. “Happy the heart where love has come to birth.”

— Teresa of Ávila

68. “Don’t imagine that, if you had a great deal of time, you would spend more of it in prayer. Get rid of that idea; it is no hindrance to prayer to spend your time well.”

— Teresa of Ávila

69. “True perfection consists in the love of God and our neighbour, and the better we keep both these commandments, the more perfect we shall be.”

— Teresa of Ávila

70. “Ah, how true it is that we love ourselves too much and proceed with too much human prudence, that we may not lose an atom of our consideration! Oh, what a great mistake that is! The Saints did not act thus.”

— Teresa of Ávila

71. “How is it, Lord, that we are cowards in everything save in opposing thee?”

— Teresa of Ávila

72. “Never affirm anything unless you are sure it is true.”

— Teresa of Ávila

73. “I made you, dear, and all I make is perfect. Please come close, for I desire you.”

— Teresa of Ávila

74. “All things must come to its roots from where it is planted.”

— Teresa of Ávila

75. “I would never want any prayer that would not make the virtues grow within me.”

— Teresa of Ávila

76. “Those seeking the life of the spirit should be cheerful and free, and not neglect recreation. Married people must act in conformity with their vocation – but their progress will of necessity be but the pace of a hen.”

— Teresa of Ávila

77. “I have always had this failing – that I cannot explain myself, as I have said, except at the cost of many words.”

— Teresa of Ávila

78. “If you fall sometimes, you must not be discouraged.”

— Teresa of Ávila

79. “If we practice love of neighbor with great perfection, we will have done everything.”

— Teresa of Ávila

80. “A slight failing in one virtue is enough to put all the others to sleep.”

— Teresa of Ávila

81. “It is a great folly to be willing to violate the friendship of God, rather than the law of human friendship.”

— Teresa of Ávila

82. “Lord, how Thou dost afflict Thy lovers!”

— Teresa of Ávila

83. “The feeling remains that God is on the journey, too.”

— Teresa of Ávila

84. “Life is a night spent in an uncomfortable inn.”

— Teresa of Ávila

85. “All times are dangerous times.”

— Teresa of Ávila

86. “Mental prayer is nothing else but being on terms of friendship with God, frequently conversing in secret with Him.”

— Teresa of Ávila

87. “Each of us has a soul, but we forget to value it. We don’t remember that we are creatures made in the image of God. We don’t understand the great secrets hidden inside of us.”

— Teresa of Ávila

88. “Thank God for the things that I do not own.”

— Teresa of Ávila

89. “When we accept what happens to us and make the best of it, we are praising God.”

— Teresa of Ávila

90. “We bloomed in Spring. Our bodies are the leaves of God. The apparent seasons of life and death our eyes can suffer; but our souls, dear, I will just say this forthright: they are God Himself, we will never perish until He does.”

— Teresa of Ávila

91. “Granting that we are always in the presence of God, yet it seems to me that those who pray are in His presence in a very different sense; for they, as it were, see that He is looking upon them, while others may go for days on end without even once recollecting that God sees them.”

— Teresa of Ávila

92. “Christ has no body now but mine. He prays in me, works in me, looks through my eyes, speaks through my words, works through my hands, walks with my feet and loves with my heart.”

— Teresa of Ávila

93. “Patient endurance attends to all things.”

— Teresa of Ávila

94. “Prayer is an act of love; words are not needed. Even if sickness distracts from thoughts, all that is needed is the will to love.”

— Teresa of Ávila

95. “There is no affliction, trial, or labor difficult to endure, when we consider the torments and sufferings which Our Lord Jesus Christ endured for us.”

— Teresa of Ávila

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

— Teresa of Ávila

97. “We may speak of love and humility as the true flowers of spiritual growth; and they give off a wonderful scent, which benefits all those who come near.”

— Teresa of Ávila

98. “Be gentle to all, and stern with yourself.”

— Teresa of Ávila

99. “Blessed be He, Who came into the world for no other purpose than to suffer.”

— Teresa of Ávila

100. “God prefers your health, and your obedience, to your penance.”

— Teresa of Ávila