Top 180 Teresa of Ávila Quotes (2025 Update)
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151. “Hope, O my soul, hope. You know neither the day nor the hour.”

— Teresa of Ávila

152. “How friendly all men would be one with another, if no regard were paid to honour and money! I believe it would be a remedy for everything.”

— Teresa of Ávila

153. “All blessings come to us through our Lord. He will teach us, for in beholding His life we find that He is the best example.”

— Teresa of Ávila

154. “Do not think you have gained a virtue unless you have first been tried by its opposite.”

— Teresa of Ávila

155. “In the presence of Jesus in the Holy Sacrament we ought to be like the Blessed in heaven before the Divine Essence.”

— Teresa of Ávila

156. “While the soul is in mortal sin, nothing can profit it; none of its good works merit an eternal reward, since they do not proceed from God as their first principle, and by Him alone is our virtue real virtue.”

— Teresa of Ávila

157. “Let him never cease from prayer who has once begun it, be his life ever so wicked; for prayer is the way to amend it, and without prayer such amendment will be much more difficult.”

— Teresa of Ávila

158. “Seldom or never is a poor man honored by the world; however worthy of honor he may be, he is apt rather to be despised by it.”

— Teresa of Ávila

159. “I am quite sure that if we could but once approach the Most Holy Sacrament with great faith and love, it would suffice to make us rich. How much more so if we approach it often!”

— Teresa of Ávila

160. “My good works, however wretched and imperfect, have been made better and perfected by Him Who is my Lord: He has rendered them meritorious. As to my evil deeds and my sins, He hid them at once. The eyes of those who saw them, He made even blind; and He has blotted them out of their memory.”

— Teresa of Ávila

161. “Lord, how you afflict your lovers! But everything is small in comparison to what you give them afterwards.”

— Teresa of Ávila

162. “It is not a matter of thinking a great deal but of loving a great deal, so do whatever arouses you most to love.”

— Teresa of Ávila

163. “How is it that there are not many who are led by sermons to forsake open sin? Do you know what I think? That is because preachers have too much worldly wisdom.”

— Teresa of Ávila

164. “It is the nature of love to work in a thousand different ways.”

— Teresa of Ávila

165. “Do you suppose that God has any need of our works? What God needs is the resoluteness of our will.”

— Teresa of Ávila

166. “The best thing must be to flee from all to the All.”

— Teresa of Ávila

167. “Do you know when people really become spiritual? It is when they become the slaves of God and are branded with His sign, which is the sign of the Cross, in token that they have given Him their freedom.”

— Teresa of Ávila

168. “I am afraid that if we begin to put our trust in human help, some of our Divine help will fail us.”

— Teresa of Ávila

169. “It is certain that the love of God does not consist in this sweetness and tenderness which we for the most part desire; but rather in serving Him in justice, fortitude, and humility. His Majesty seeks and loves courageous souls.”

— Teresa of Ávila

170. “It is of great importance, when we begin to practise prayer, not to let ourselves be frightened by our own thoughts.”

— Teresa of Ávila

171. “Holy church-that mother who is also a queen because she is a king’s bride.”

— Teresa of Ávila

172. “Whenever conscience commands anything, there is only one thing to fear, and that is fear.”

— Teresa of Ávila

173. “So dearly does His Majesty love us that He will reward our love for our neighbor by increasing the love which we bear to Himself, and that in a thousand ways.”

— Teresa of Ávila

174. “No one should think or say anything of another which he would not wish thought or said of himself.”

— Teresa of Ávila

175. “Let us live in such a way as not to be afraid to die.”

— Teresa of Ávila

176. “For, as I said a little way back, perfect souls are in no way repelled by trials, but rather desire them and pray for them and love them. They are like soldiers: the more wars there are, the better they are pleased, because they hope to emerge from them with the greater riches.”

— Teresa of Ávila

177. “Learn to self-conquest, persevere thus for a time, and you will perceive very clearly the advantage which you gain from it.”

— Teresa of Ávila

178. “The life of the spirit is not our life, but the life of God within us.”

— Teresa of Ávila

179. “Let thy words be few when in the midst of many...”

— Teresa of Ávila

180. “I only wish I could write with both hands, so as not to forget one thing while I am saying another.”

— Teresa of Ávila

181. “Tear your heart away from everything else; then seek God and you will surely find him.”

— Teresa of Ávila

182. “From moment to moment one can bear much.”

— Teresa of Ávila

183. “There seem to me a great many blessings which come from true poverty and I should be sorry to be deprived of them.”

— Teresa of Ávila

184. “Our soul can find in the Blessed Sacrament all the joys and consolations it desires.”

— Teresa of Ávila

185. “It will be as well, I think, to explain these locutions of God, and to describe what the soul feels when it receives them.”

— Teresa of Ávila

186. “How poor is the wisdom of men, and how uncertain their forecast!”

— Teresa of Ávila

187. “It is impossible for human tongue to exaggerate the riches which a vision from God brings to the soul: it even bestows health and refreshment on the body.”

— Teresa of Ávila

188. “One always goes on as one begins...”

— Teresa of Ávila

189. “To argue over who is the more noble is nothing more than to dispute whether dirt is better for making bricks or for making mortar.”

— Teresa of Ávila

190. “The life of prayer is just love to God, and the custom of being ever with Him.”

— Teresa of Ávila

191. “How friendly we should all be with one another if nobody were interested in money and honor.”

— Teresa of Ávila

192. “The hour I have long wished for is now come.”

— Teresa of Ávila